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training course for UNEP DEWA and DCPI staff on
e-book production. During 2013, DEWA staff received
training on Word Press for the Blue Carbon portal,137
which is part of the Blue Carbon Initiative.
• In 2013 GRID-Arendal signed a three-year partnership
agreement with the University of Bologna under which
GRID-Arendal staff will provide training on cartography
and other topics, as well as internship opportunities at
GRID-Arendal for advanced cartography students. The
first training workshop in cartography was held in No-
vember 2013.
Outreach programmes and awareness-raising with UNEP
and beyond
• As part of the collaboration with UNEP on a compre-
hensive outreach strategy for GEO-5, GRID-Arendal de-
veloped several outreach tools as well as implementing
specific outreach activities:
– a video/curtain raiser that was used at the launch of
the GEO-5 report in June 2012;
– a targeted report for local authorities, working closely
with UNEP and ICLEI;
– a comprehensive outreach and capacity develop-
ment strategy for the regions – to inform on GEO-5
findings and to build capacity in using these findings.
In addition, GRID-Arendal organized the Norway launch
of GEO-5 in Oslo on 7 June 2012.
• During 2012 and 2013, GRID-Arendal has further de-
veloped the use of videosfor communicating environ-
mental information and messages:
– The film Status and Trends in Arctic Biodiversity138
based on the findings of the 2010 Arctic Biodiversity
Trends report, was produced for the CAFF Working
Group. It emphasizes the new challenges brought
about by climate change and the increase of industrial
activities in the region, and includes interviews with the
President of Iceland, prominent scientists, indigenous
peoples, and fishermen. Released in April 2013 during
the biggest gathering of polar scientists of 2012, the
International Polar Year 2012 Conference ‘From Knowl-
edge to Action’, the film subsequently won the 2013
documentary award of the Green Lens Environmental
Film Festival - an annual competition sponsored by the
Northern Illinois University´s Institute for the Study of
the Environment, Sustainability and Energy.
– In collaboration with the University of the Arctic, GRID-
Arendal initiated the Snowy Owl Talks series139 address-
ing specific topics about the North to create awareness
and promote discussion on contemporary issues. The
main target audience for these videos is students.
137.
138.
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– Videos were also produced on the Blue Carbon Dem-
onstration Project140 and Payme nts for Ecosystem
Services,141 and a HICAP video teaser entitled Scaling
Mountains, Gaining Heights142 presented concerns
from women environmental leaders on gendered dif-
ferences to climate change adaptation.
– Two film producers visited GRID-Arendal to collect
footage for a documentary on methane hydrates that
will be released on ARTE TV in Europe, the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation in Canada and in the US.
An interview with the Head of the Marine Division
will feature in the documentary. The documentary is
set for release in early 2014.
• The Many Strong Voices (MSV) programme launched
a new website 143 with the technical design provided in-
house. The website gives access to peer-reviewed arti-
cles and publications on the themes of climate change
and SIDS, community-based adaptation, and disaster
risk management in island contexts. It also serves as
the e-portal for the Portraits of Resilience144 photog-
raphy project, which trains youth and schools in the
Arctic and SIDS in the use of photography and other
digital media to bring personal stories and faces to the
attention of the general public and to decision makers
at international climate change negotiations.
• MSV also took the opportunity to raise awareness at
UNFCCC COP19 in November 2013. The ‘Portraits of
Resilience’ photo exhibition opened on 18 November
2013 at the State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw.
The exhibition, which was a collaboration between
GoNorth! Adventure Learning and MSV, featured the
work of young photographers in Chukotka (Russia), the
Canadian Arctic, Seychelles, Tuvalu and the Marshall
Islands. On the same day, MSV held a Global Consulta-
tion on Climate-induced Displacement and Relocation
with affected peoples - as well as with civil society rep-
resentatives, researchers and policymakers – to identify
community needs as a means to develop appropriate
tools and resources to assist such communities in their
relocation efforts and to participate in decision-making
processes at national and international levels.
• GRID-Arendal collaborated in another side event at the
UNFCCC COP19 - Adaptation without Borders: Building
Cooperation for Resilient Regions - in which a high level
panel called on COP19 delegates and global develop-
ment partners to protect vital mountain ecosystems, to
support adaptation programmes in the mountains for
improved livelihoods and sustainability, and to create
incentives to enhance the benefits mountain people de-
rive from conserving their ecosystems.
140.
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