Talking Climate, event dedicated to raising awareness on climate change
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Monday, September 30
The purpose of the event was to raise awareness about climate change and the protection of the environment. Young speakers presented their ideas and shared their experience on climate issues and on how to mobilize people to do more and help preserve the environment. Government representatives spoke about recent progress and planned activities in the area. At the end of the event, all attendees participated in a joint action by committing themselves to make a small difference in their usual lifestyle in response to climate change.
Vincent Rey, the Head of Cooperation of the European Union attended the forum. He talked about the importance of protecting the environment and the role of such events for this purpose.
"Protection of the environment and climate change are some of the main issues we face today. Reduce waste, save energy, and limit CO2 emissions – these are the actions we all need to focus on if we want to limit the damaging effects that affect us all, whether in cities or rural areas. Events like this help to get this message out and I'm very happy to see the high interest and engagement of students today, look forward to working with you on making the change we need to see happen" noted Vincent Rey.
According to Levan Davitashvili, Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture in Georgia noted that “the climate change is an emerging issue for the countries worldwide and Georgia is among them.”
“It’s time to be more active and take specific commitments. Georgia is part of all international initiatives to mitigate climate change impacts. The forest and its ecosystem pay a key mitigating role in response to climate. We have already made significant steps towards it, however, more needs to be done. Therefore, we hope to get relevant support from donors and international organizations,” noted the Minister.
According to the CEO and President of the Caucasus University, Kakha Shengelia, “the engagement of youth and educational institutions to increase the awareness about climate change is vital.”
“The public forum is a new platform offering good opportunity to share ideas and knowledge among youth, field professionals and the government on how to foster the engagement of citizens, particularly youth in actions in response to climate change,” noted Shengelia.
As the Deputy Mayor of Tbilisi, Maia Bitadze said, Tbilisi City Hall pays great attention to the implementation of climate change-related activities.
As she noted, “on the national level, we are actively involved in developing climate change policy and have started working on the municipal strategy and action plan on climate change in line with national framework.”
The EU is in the frontline of the international efforts to fight climate change and has helped to build a broad coalition of countries to push forward joint climate actions. The EU was a key player in developing both the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol and most recently the Paris Agreement on climate change.