Making Climate Change Management Policy with Citizens (KRGNJ0001)

Commitment ID

KRGNJ0001

Commitment Title

Making Climate Change Management Policy with Citizens

Problem

The demand of civil society for a policy shift in crisis response in a changing climate has been steadily maintained, including the Climate Crisis Emergency Declaration Ceremony and the Friday Action Campaign, a civic group consisting of 113 civic and social organizations in February 2020, and selection of a final agenda at the Gwangju Citizens' General Assembly in July 2020. As a result, Gwangju City has launched the public-private governance partnership, the “Carbon Neutral City Promotion Committee” and announced 94 action plans in six areas, including energy conversion, resource recycling, and transportation, with the goal of achieving a carbon-neutral city by 2045. However, since the goals of these policies can be achieved through voluntary efforts by Gwangju citizens, acceptability of actions and executive skills are emerging as important tasks. In addition, in order for the public-private governance partnership to fully achieve the original purpose of a citizen-led Green New Deal, it is necessary to reflect and actively utilize the participation of a majority of public citizens as well as civic groups in the policy-making process.

Status quo

The Carbon-Neutral City Promotion Committee, the public-private governance partnership of Gwangju City guarantees citizen participation through the Climate Crisis Emergency Action group, consisting of 113 citizen and social communities, but the process of obtaining participation of citizens, which is not included in the public-private governance partnership, has not been established. Particularly, active opinion gathering activities are needed to attract the participation of citizens who are interested in policy but are passive in participation. In addition, it is also necessary to make an opportunity for citizens to act as necessary in response to climate crisis through activities such as providing relevant information and raising the interest of ordinary citizens who may be indifferent or interested in climate change but lack related information.

Action

Education and public relations in sectors such as energy, transportation, and resource recycling will be conducted with civic groups participating in the Carbon-Neutral City Promotion Committee prior to implementing policy evaluation and opinion collection from citizens. For policy evaluation and opinion collection according to degree of policy understanding, a distinction is made between groups that are directly implementing post-training practices and those who only come in contact with the policy through public relations. The results will be reflected in climate crisis response policies and civic promotion strategies through the Carbon-Neutral City Promotion Committee.

How will the commitment contribute to solving the public problem described above?

Improve the interest of public citizens through education in crisis response in a changing climate and by enhancing promotion. The voluntary participation of citizens, in areas such as reducing food waste, public transport use, and reducing energy use, enhances the effectiveness of policy implementation and contributes to efficient governance through the collection of opinions from citizens.

What long-term goal as identified in your Open Government Strategy does this commitment relate to?

Changing and Challenging - Innovative Gwangju: Re-structuring municipal management in its entirety in terms of innovation to promote sustainable innovation for municipal management and implementing field-oriented communication in public administration with citizens.

Primary Policy Area

Civic Space, Crisis Response

Primary Sector

Environment & Climate

What OGP value is this commitment relevant to?