What is the Isle of Man Citizens’ Forum on Climate Change?

TL:DR - a group of 36 people ranging from selected stakeholders, interested individuals and randomly selected citizens who are discussing how the Isle of Man can best face the climate crisis, with the feedback leading directly into both the civil service and political groups responsible for action on climate change.

The Citizens' Forum on Climate Change (now referred to as 'the Forum') is chaired by Ralph Peake, Member of the House of Keys (MHK) and Jane Poole-Wilson, Member of the Legislative Council (MLC). It is led by the Climate Change Transformation Team led by Richard Lowell, CEO of the Department for Environment, Food and Agriculture (DEFA).

The decisions of the Forum feed

into the Climate Tranformation Team, the civil servants who are responsible for creating the Climate Change Action Plan - the series of steps required to bring the Isle of Man to net carbon zero by 2050.

They are also fed back to the Climate Transformation Board, the group of politicians that are bringing the Climate Bill to Tynwald, the Isle of Man's Government.

However, this is not a Citizen's Assembly, something you may have heard about in regards to Ireland's Abortion Bill, or Extinction Rebellion's demands to governments' around the world. A Citizen's Assembly has binding powers - the decisions they make have to be made into law. A Citizen's Forum is more of a think tank - we discuss ideas and make suggestions, but there is no obligation to listen or follow the decisions we make.

The Forum will be meeting several times over the course of a year to discuss the various topics most relevant to climate change, including energy, buildings, transport and more. We are encouraged to ask the public and/or our stakeholder groups for feedback on the information we recieve before each meeting, and then to feed that back into the forum. This blog is my way of making the whole process more transparent, and asking you for your thoughts on how the Isle of Man can best take action on climate change, and become a safer, healthier, and happier Island at the same time.

If you have any questions, whether that be more information about the Forum, the topics that will be covered, or any other query, then please let me know and I will answer as best I can. This is a brilliant opportunity for our voices to be heard, and more importantly, listened to. Lets make the most of it.

Image above: Members of the Tranformation Team and Tranformation Board take feedback on what the group feels is important for the Isle of Man. Courtesy of the Transformation Team.