People are being urged to participate in a telephone survey to raise their awareness and build resilience against climate change, as the Ministry of Planning and Development partners with the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) to tackle the issue.
A media release from the Ministry of Planning and Development on Sunday reported that the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) survey was part of the European Union's climate change resilience project.
The survey which will last from September 1 to October, will be done by telephone using a random sample of the population.
The National Red Cross team will randomly call selected households to administer the survey.
In the release, Planning Minister Camille Robinson-Regis said the survey was an important tool in understanding the attitudes towards climate change while addressing practices and behaviours that contributed to the phenomenon.
She said, as a small-island state, TT had a vested interest in raising the awareness of citizens as islands were among those communities most affected by climate change.
"This is one of a broad suite of activities which the government is leading to ensure that Trinidad and Tobago is at the forefront not only in the region but globally regarding climate change mitigation and building resilience to its effects."
Robinson-Regis also serves as the chair of the ministerial committee to co-ordinate the implementation plan for the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of TT to the Paris Agreement.
The release said that work is in progress through the Environmental Policy and Planning Division to prepare for TT's participation in the Twenty-Sixth Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) in November 26 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Tecla Fontenard, communications specialist for the CCCCC, said awareness was a priority in formulating policies and practices to mitigate climate change and was hopeful the survey would provide valuable information and guiding policy-makers decisions.
"Building awareness of climate change and variability at all levels of the Caribbean society is important for us to achieve climate compatibility and strengthen national development, that is why the KAP survey is being launched in some of our Member States, to gather the baseline that we need to set the context for the public awareness drive that is to be subsequently initiated."
TT is one of five CARIFORUM countries participating in the survey. The others are the Bahamas, Belize, the Dominican Republic and St Kitts and Nevis.
The post Citizens can speak on climate change with new telephone survey appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.
