WWF Cymru: WWF Climate Witness Programme

Through the Climate Witness programme, WWF helps people around the world to share their story of how climate change impacts their lives and what they are doing to take action.

All Climate Witness stories have an independent scientific review by members of the Climate Witness Science Advisory Panel (SAP). It is their role to establish whether the impacts observed by climate witnesses are consistent with current scientific knowledge of human-induced climate change events in a particular region. The Panel has over 120 members from around the world, including many Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientists. This review of testimonials is a key strength of the programme, maintaining its credibility.

The Climate Witness programme is about creating a sense of urgency - giving a voice to those who are experiencing climate change and its impacts in their daily lives. The most obvious examples are associated with communities in less developed countries that can project their voice onto the international stage, using their witness testimonials as powerful sources of evidence that impacts are being felt here and now.

However impacts are clearly being felt in developed countries too. Climate change is still seen by many as a distant and abstract threat (particularly when cold weather impacts are confused with long term climatic trends); a perception the Climate Witness programme in Wales aims to change.

Climate Witness case studies not only illicit examples of impacts but very often include inspirational stories of how individuals are mitigating their emissions. 

It is hoped that communicating these stories of behaviour change - not because of abstract scientific arguments, but because of first hand experience - will help motivate and inspire change in others.

In Wales, the programme uses sectoral case studies (representatives from agriculture and fishing industries), to raise awareness of the particular threats the sector faces. Climate Witness may prove to be an effective method of prompting organisations to consider adaptation more carefully and plan accordingly.

Climate Witness in Wales has so far recruited 2 climate witnesses - Wyn Evans and Jerry Percy. WWF Cymru has also recruited Clive Walmsey as a WWF Climate Scientist who now sits on the SAP, and the Environment Minister, Jane Davidson AM, has also been directly involved in launching one of the witness accounts within the National Assembly.

Wyn Evans from Pembrokeshire was WWF Cymru’s first climate witness.  Over the last 40 years, Wyn has witnessed many changes on his organic farm, including warmer and milder winters, increased drought conditions and more intense rainfall in the summer months which have led to flash floods affecting his campsite. He has installed a range of renewable energy projects on his farm to reduce its carbon footprint.

Jerry Percy was WWF’s second climate witness and is the Chief Executive of the Welsh Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (WFFA).  Having been an active commercial fisherman for most of his life, he became a climate witness to reflect the concerns of fellow fishermen about climate change impacts on marine life and the industry. Jerry has lived in Wales for the past 25 years and has worked in various roles related to Welsh marine and freshwater life, including as a commercial sea fisherman, fisheries manager, regulator and processor.

The Climate Witness programme, through Wyn Evans and Jerry Percy, has two strong case studies and spokespeople on climate change impacts relevant to Wales.

This programme is a strong way of communicating that climate change is not an abstract threat but is happening here and now in Wales, which the WWF hopes could help to support the harder political messages on mitigation.

Communications materials such as banners have been produced to communicate the programme’s objectives and to help recruit other witnesses. A list of questions has been developed to extract the right information from climate witnesses to ensure we are talking about long term climatic trends rather than shorter term weather patterns. WWF Cymru has also developed expertise in understanding what makes for a strong witness account, such as length of time in a location (to have noticed long term changes in trends).

The Climate Witness Programme is a useful way of engaging with the public and media – by using people's real life experiences, it allow people to empathise, while creating a level of understanding and human interest that scientific jargon sometimes cannot easily translate.

These real life examples are also backed up by science; the programme crosses boundaries of understanding and is accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds and as a result reaches those who previously may have had little or no interest in climate change issues.

By highlighting changes witnessed by real people in real communities it changes people’s perceptions of what climate change is and how its affects are felt both locally and around the world.