The impact of community engagement to climate change in King County
Introduction
Research problem
Climate change means the destruction of the world’s climate caused by humans through fossil fuel burning, forest clearing and many other practices that lead to high concentration of Green House Gas (GHG) in the atmosphere. The direct or indirect attribute to people activity causing an alteration of the composition of the global atmosphere leads to climate change through natural climate variability. Organizations and individuals have ignored the responsibility of taking good care of energy and climate change issues as they plan their daily activities. Community plays a significant role in delivering the climate goals (Fritze, Williamson and Wiseman, 2008). Climate change plays a significance role in community development strategies since it affects the implementations of certain projects aimed at helping people in a community. Challenges associated with climate changes are approached following the following principles; intergenerational equity, intra-generational equity and well informed democratic decision making.
Importance of research
The issue of climate change has created a big motion not only in King County but globally. This has created a need for a study that aims at improving the co-ordination and communication within and across local, country and commonwealth government departments. It is important to encourage the community to make use of engagement principles and strategies in order to make them informed on adverse effects of climate change. This will occur through the following. First is the environment policy that engages issues on biodiversity; water; energy; food security; bush fire prevention; metropolitan and rural strategies. Secondly, the economic policy involved with economic development and industry policy; structural adjustment; agriculture; human capital and labor market programs. Finally is the social policy that will be involved with social inclusion; community resilience; health promotion and health inequalities; and housing. The above statement creates a need to investigate the level of King County engagement on climate change in regard to its benefits, challenges, and strategies.
Relevant literature
This chapter will deal with the earlier researches conducted on the same topic. In this chapter, the impact of climate change to the community is discussed. In addition, a discussion on the community engagement towards climate change is also focused. The chapter also develops strategies necessary to deal with the issue of climate change and community development.
The impact of climate change to the community
Report shows that the annual highest 24-hour rainfall amounts observed to be relatively lower than those recorded in 1960s showing a negative trend on climate change. The emerging changes in rainfall level have a severe impact on the country social-economic sectors that are climate sensitive. The contributions of stakeholders during the national and regional NCCRS workshops indicate potential impacts of climate change in King County’s key sectors and land use systems. The lack of enough community involvements in sectors that promote climate change has resulted into increased rate of greenhouse gas emission. The following research will develop measures that local communities at King County will adapt in promoting climate change.
Community engagement and climate change
Research on community involvement in climate change clearly elaborates various public policy benefits and community success factors associated with engaging to one way or another in climate change campaigns. Inter-community communication and interaction have contributed to the introduction of concerns and needs for individual engagement in climate change process. According to International Association for Public Participation (2004), community engagement to climate change involves different levels with different activities that have specific goals and objectives. The involvement of communities in climate change at King County will make use of key stakeholders in order to tackle issues related to risk management.
Strategic approaches to climate change
Direct and indirect impacts of climate changes are severe in the county, and a possibility of increasing changes is expected in case no measures are taken to reduce GHG emissions. Researches on community approaches to climate changes have shown purposeful and perfect engagement among key stakeholders in order to increase opportunities for diversity. The government has the responsibility of meeting certain standards of engagement, but this has never been achieved. Community leaders who involve in decision making on how to engage in climate change process fosters a sense of belonging and introduces considerable benefits to the local people (Department of Sustainability and Environment, 2007).
Research questions and hypotheses
The research will answer the following questions:
- What is the effect of climate change on community development programs in King County?
- What are the benefits of community engagement in climate change process?
- What are the most appropriate strategies to adopt in order to mitigate climate change in King County?
Hypotheses
H1: People of King County actively engage in climate change management
H2: There is no involvement in climate change management by people of King County
Research design
The population of interest in the research will be the people of King County community. The researcher will use the triangulation method for the data collection in order to increase the level of the validity of the data. A questionnaire and in-depth interview will serve as the major tools for data collection during the research. Sampling will entail getting a small group from the big group or population of the study. The following methods have a limitation of respondents not providing the correct information thus creating biases. Quantitative data collection methods will be applied in the research project. The target sample population is a group of 20 members in each group. An average of 10 groups will be selected at random. The qualitative process will involve focus groups and face-to-face interviews. The focus groups will be composed of 10 people. According to Hair, Lukas, Miller, Bush, & Ortinau (2008), management of a focus group that has a composition of more than 10 members poses difficulties in the research while a focus group of less than 6 members may influence data validity extensively.
Conclusion
Developing an action plan for addressing climate change issue requires an understanding of different principles and priorities. Firstly, proper information in all government, private and local community sectors should be distributed in order to reduce risks associated with dangerous climate changes. Secondly, the community should adapt to various changes in the natural systems in response to the expected climate impacts in order to make use of the available opportunities (Garnault, 2008). Climate change management should start at the individual level going up to the government level.
References
Effective Engagement.
Fritze, J., Williamson, L. and Wiseman, J. (2008). Community Engagement and Climate Change:
Benefits, Challenges and Strategies, Department of Planning and Community Development, Victorian Government
Garnaut, Review. (2008). Garnaut climate Change Review Interim Report to the Commonwealth,
Hair., Lukas., Miller., Bush, & Ortinau. (2008). Essentials of Marketing Research.
2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill Irwin, North Sydney, NSW, Australia
International Association for Public Participation (2004). IAP2 Public Participation Spectrum.
Brisbane, International Association for Public Participation.
