Bonn, 3 May 2018 — APN participated at the tenth meeting of the SBSTA Research Dialogue (RD 10) held during the 48th session of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

In his presentation titled “Closing the Gap: Capacity Development and Communicating Science”, Dr Andrew Matthews of the APN Steering Committee shared APN’s perspectives on capacity development and communicating science in the context of global change. Highlighting key messages resulting from a series of science-policy dialogues which have been organized by APN together with regional partners since 2012, Dr Matthews pointed out the key factors for effective science-policy communication, which involves building trust using scenarios based on standardized protocols and methodologies in a participatory approach.

“We need local champions to more effectively communicate scientific knowledge to the policy-making community. They are able to reinforce the sense of urgency of climate change for policymakers and the idea that it’s not just ‘a scientist’s view of the world’,” commented Dr Matthews as he gave examples of a successful science-policy interface. He also shared some examples of successful APN activities enabled by effective communication among all involved actors and stakeholders.

The full presentation is available for download here.

More information about the Research Dialogue is available on the UNFCCC website.