Climate change debate and the ‘Russian proposal’: on
the way from Durban 2011 to Paris 2015
Iuliia Goman
St. Petersburg State University
AIM
'The Russian Proposal' Durban, 2011
The aim of the research is to show the current state of domestic debate and define the
level of public awareness regarding climate change in Russia;
to trace back the connection of Durban climate conference in 2011 and the Paris
climate summit in 2015
·wider group of countries to get climate commitments are encouraged to participate;
·a review of countries' economic development is recommended to be fulfilled
METHODS
Content analysis (TV programs, documents, interviews)
RESULTS
Positions of actors based on content analysis of
TV programmes in Russia
2010-2014
TV channel
2014
2010
OTR ('Obshestvennoe Rossiiskoye
TVC ('TV Centre')
State-owned TV channel founded Televidenie') Public Channel of
Russia founded in 2013
in1997
aims at highlighting urgent social, aims at developing
and educating civil society
political, economic problems
Program title
'Delo Principa'
('A Matter of Principle')
Statement of the main
problem
Climate. What will our planet be Global climate change. What
should Russia and the whole
like tomorrow?
world expect?
1 politician
2 politicians
2 Mass Media representatives
4 scientists (zoology, economics,
(chief editors)
biophysics, futurology)
1 representative of regional
authorities
3 scientists (geophysics, biology,
climatology)
Participants:
'Pravda na OTR'
('Truth at OTR')
Durban conference, 2011 - Paris summit, 2015: is there a connection?
'Durban conference will become a starting point for making the new agreement on climate
change.' (A. Bedritsky, Conference on climate adaptation, Moscow. November, 2011.
'Today multi-party negotiations on climate change is in its active stage. In 2015 the acceptance
of a new gobal agreement is being planned.
Forming of the national climate position of Russia in international negotiations presupposes
·planning of possible obligations of country in future agreement;
·coordination of national aims of climate policy with international agenda of sustainable
development'
(A.Bedritsky. 'Towards Sustainable Russia'. Bulletin of the Institute of Sustainable Development
of the RF Civic Chamber of Russian Federation. No 68, 2014)
Similar topics discussed:
Polar perceptions of
climate change
Significance of nature
cataclysms
Does climate change presuppose Is climate change a public fear or
a threat to our planet?
reaity?
Should we struggle with climate Has notorious global warming
change? In what ways?
become reality?
What should people be prepared
for or climate fears are groundless?
To what extent did nature
cataclysms make an impact on
the history of humanity?
Role of anthropogenic Is it possible that human activity
is not the priority cause of global
factor
warming?
Searching for economic Is it possible that Russia will
benefit from global warming
benefits derived from
(having bigger harvest, turning
global warming
swamps into pastures, providing
easy access to natural resources
in some regions)
Will Russia become the largest
supplier of fresh water?
Will Russian fresh water play the
similar role in future as Russian
gas does nowadays?
Kyoto protocol
Do you think that Kyoto
mechanism and restrictions
under it play a significant role?
Did Russia do the right choice
signing the Kyoto protocol?
What do climate records inform
us about (July, 2013 – snowfall in
Brazil; August 2014,
USA California, forests fires;
Mexico, tropical storm;
China, Far East, flood)?
Is climate change mainly the result
of an anthropogenic factor?
Will we pay less for electricity
because of milder winters?
CONCLUSIONS:
1.Domestic public debate on climate change may lack coherence. Based on content analysis of
Russian TV programs it is seen that actors (scientists, politicians, Mass Media representatives)
did not to come to a mutually accepted position on the basic understanding of the problem.
2. Civil society in Russia is not actively participating in shaping the position on climate change;
it is still at the stage of putting up with the problem.
3.Climate change debate results in demonstration of similar positions by certain countries as
well as polar perception of the issue by other representatives.
4. 'The Russian Proposal' made in Durban is significant because Russia provided a better
platform for itself to create a cooperative role in the future new agreement.
5. The perception of Russian position in the climate change debate has certain peculiarities: it is
shaped now in the situation of tense relationship with the EU, the USA over the Ukrainian conflict;
it is comprised of the positions of different internal actors, and there is no unified approach so far
even on the level of acknowledgment of the problem.
Does Russia fulfil its obligations
under the Kyoto protocol?
New topics introduced:
Do you believe that hysteria in
Mass Media over certain
cataclysms (volcano eruption of
in Iceland in 2010) makes the
worse impact on public
perception than the cataclysm
itself?
What other threats that might
negatively influence the life of
humanity can be mentioned?
Who is responsible for making
prognosis regarding climate
change in Russia?
Do the talks about climate weapon
demonstrate alarmist approach?
Does climate weapon exist and
what are the threats for
international community?
Contact information: Goman Iuliia
e-mail: [email protected]