IX. 18. EDUCATION, TRAINING AND PUBLIC AWARENESS 82. State and local governments are responsible for most formal education programmes in the United States. Nonetheless, the national communication describes several programmes that the federal Government is implementing to increase public awareness and provide education about the climate change issue and the team felt that the national communication did respect the reporting guidelines in this area. 83. Many of the educational programmes described in the national communication are closely linkod with scientific research programmes on climate change. This linkage has been developed out of necessity. While the United States Government can produce and distribute selentifie information that can be used by advoentes, The United States government produces and distributes scientific and technical Information that can be used in the public sector, although it is prohibited by law fro acting as an advocate for a particular goal. United States law does not permit the Government to be a public advocate on the climate change issuc. The team noted that this situation does not prevail in all OECD countries. 84. During its visit the team was told that one of the major educational initiatives described in the national communication, the GLOBE programme (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment), was likely to have its funding significantly cut back by the United States Congress. Acknowledging that change in the Earth's climate and its adverse effects are Concerned that human activities have been substantially increasing the Noting that the largest share of historical and current global emissions Aware of the role and importance in terrestrial and marine ecosystems of Noting that there are many uncertainties in predictions of climate change, Acknowledging that the global nature of climate change calls for the widest Recalling the pertinent provisions of the Declaration of the United Nations Becalling also that States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Reaffirming the principle of sovereignty of States in international Recognizing that States should enact effective environmental legislation, Recalling the provisions of General Assembly resolution 44/228 of 19 December 1991 on protection of global climate for present and future Recalling also the provisions of General Assembly resolution 44/206 of Recalling further the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Noting the Ministerial Declaration of the Second World Climate Conference Conscious of the valuable analytical work being conducted by many Recognizing that steps required to understand and address climate change Recognizing that various actions to address climate change can be Recognizing also the need for developed countries to take immediate action Recognizing further that low-lying and other small island countries,⚫ Recognizing the special difficulties of those countries, especially developing Affirming that responses to climate change should be coordinated with Recognizing that all countries, especially developing countries, need access Have agreed as follows: 2. "Climate change" means a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods. 3. "Climate system" means the totality of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, blosphere and geosphere and their interactions. 4. "Emissions" means the release of greenhouse gases and/or their precursors 5. "Greenhouse gases" means those gaseous constituents of the atmosphere, 7. "Reservoir" means a component or components of the climate system where 8. "Sink" means any process, activity or mechanism which removes a 9. "Source" means any process or activity which releases a greenhouse gas, 1. "Adverse effects of climate change" means changes in the physical • Titles of articles are included solely to assist the reader. |