IFLA Joins the Action for Climate Empowerment Dialogues: Bringing library voices to the ACE space for the first time

Held annually in Bonn, Germany on the occasion of the UN Bonn Climate Change Conference, the Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) Dialogues brings together many voices from national governments and civil society.

It is an opportunity to share experiences, ideas, good practices, and lessons learned on enabling climate change education, public awareness, training, public participation and access to information and international cooperation (the six ACE elements).

For the first time, IFLA was invited by the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to participate and help facilitate the two-day event.

ACE Dialogues 2023: Monitoring, Evaluating, and Reporting

The 26^th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), held in 2021, launched the Glasgow Work Programme for ACE Implementation. This named four priority areas for ACE: policy coherence; coordinated action; tools and support; and monitoring, evaluation and reporting.

The 2023 ACE Dialogues, held on 8-9 June, focussed on the important priority area of monitoring implementation, evaluating progress, and communicating results. ACE Focal Points, the national-government representative responsible for national-level ACE, shared the work that different countries are doing to increase their monitoring, evaluating, and reporting capacity.

Identifying Gaps

IFLA facilitated a solutions-based session during the programme, leading a group in a discussion that identified gaps in ACE monitoring, evaluating, and reporting, and identifying actions that might help address them. Some key gaps that were raised include:

• The need for capacity building in data management on ACE, including access to technology, information digitisation, and training
• The need to reach all stakeholders to the convention with ACE programmes, especially those that are traditionally marginalized
• The need for language diversity in outreach materials and outreach to diverse groups who have may not yet have been reached
• More in-country coordination between ministries and other stakeholders from civil society who can contribute to implementation and monitoring

A message to ACE Focal Points

IFLA joined small-group discussions on innovative measures such as mapping initiatives, national surveying, developing of cross-cutting indicators, and publication of case studies.

In each of our discussions with national ACE Focal Points, IFLA’s message was clear: have you considered libraries?

Have national decisionmakers considered the work of their nation’s libraries in enabling all citizens to access climate education, communication, and information? Have they considered the role that national and research libraries may play in monitoring, evaluating and reporting on climate change, and in preserving and providing access to this information?

We were delighted to hear that many ACE Focal points were very interested in the role of libraries in ACE implementation. For example, the ACE Focal Point for Australia noted that the National Library of Australia collects a vast amount of information on national climate and social policy, and could be a great benefit to Australia’s climate empowerment initiatives.

Multiple ACE Focal points reported a gap in data on non-formal and informal education contributions to ACE – which libraries are well suited to contribute to.

Coming up

IFLA will soon launch a series of surveys to better understand how libraries and library associations are contributing to ACE. Through partnering with the Monitoring and Evaluating Climate Communication and Education (MECCE) Project, this data will help provide an evidence-base and set indicators for how libraries contribute to climate communication, education, and access to information.

We are looking forward to continuing engaging with the “ACE space” – including through many exciting programmes and satellite meetings at the upcoming World Library and Information Congress!

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