Can you present yourself, tell us since when you’re doing this job ? What were you doing before ?
My name is Malin Modh. I work at the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency as Focal Point for Article 6. I work on communication on climate. I’ve been doing this for a year now. Before that, I have five years background working with press secretary. Before that I have around ten years experience of risk and crisis communication at the Environmental agency as well.
So you do no
t belong to any ministry ?
Here Im part of the Swedish delegation. The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency is part of the delegation and collaborates with the Ministry of Environment.
Do you feel that your job is connected with the UNFCCC negotiations ?
Yes it’s very connected, since one part of the Convention only deals with dialogue, public awareness and education issues. This is the article 6. I am the national focal point for this article from Sweden. That is to say, I am responsible for coordinating to implementation of this article in my country.
To your mind, do you think that the Parties undervalue the topic education and empowerment during UNFCCC negotiations ?
I am not responsible for negotiating, I only work on communication so I am only following the dialogue. So I can’t give you an insight on the negotiations under SBI. However, I was here in Bonn last year when we had the dialogue about article 6. And this year, I reckon, there are much more people attending the dialogue, almost twice much more than last year. There is an interest among the delegates as well, also on a EU perspective.
Could you give us an explanation on the reasons why the interest on this topic increased ?
Well, I work on communication. I can assure you there is a need to work with the tools of dialogue to raise public awareness in order to get a broader impact. Many people feel this need to communicate clearer on climate change issues. And this is going to be achieved by building communication strategies with different stakeholders.
If you had to resume the article 6 of the Convention in three words, what would they be ?
Article 6 is about creating involvement, engagement and dialogue with all stakeholders.
How do you implement it in your country ?
In Sweden we try to use different tools. For example, we are working with surveys, to pick up inspiration and know what are measures wished by the Swedes to be implemented by the institutions. We also use of dialogue methodologies. For example after the IPPC last report, we hold a web chat seminar with everyone willing to participate. Actually different types of interactions are valuable.
Do you have a lot of contacts with the Youth in Sweden?
I don’t personally, but we are coordinating a lot of NGO’s and municipalities working with Youth organizations on climate change issues.
What are your expectations for the last part of the 3rd Dialogue on climate change trainings coming in a few minutes ?
I hope that the dialogue today will be as inspiring as yesterday. I picked up a lot of examples that I will bring back home for my work in Sweden. I also appreciated the interactive part in the dialogue and hope today is going to be as interactive as yesterday.