Networking and community building are core components of how DSG does its global engagement work. This includes building a wide array of collaborators within the climate, justice, and solar geoengineering communities, working towards enabling potential collaborations, and conducting broad outreach to grow awareness. 

DSG develops relationships across sectors in climate-vulnerable communities and nations to build a foundation for what pathways of engagement might exist. This is a gradual process that will allow us to build trust and craft tailored processes across different types of communities. This includes creating opportunities for civil society to learn and building networks among existing organizations to enable a more open platform for discussion.

Capacity building engagement and workshops 

DSG is addressing this gap by working with local partners to build capacity for solar geoengineering with and for civil society and policymakers. As DSG implements its model for governance capacity building for civil society, including potential mechanisms of building sustained knowledge and its use, it will continue to be an iterative learning and trust-building process. We are building work across different regions:

January 2024: Pakistan Workshop & Engagement

DSG collaborated with COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI) to conduct the first-ever conference and training seminar on solar geoengineering in Pakistan to engage policymakers, academia, journalists and civil society organizations. CUI has built several projects that look at the physical and social impacts of solar geoengineering in the developing world and provided the necessary background information needed for deliberations on informed governance in a developing country. 

Co-led by DSG Director of Global Engagement Hassaan Sipra, the workshop focused on what is known about solar geoengineering at present, and what is needed to ensure that developing countries like Pakistan are able to participate in the decision-making processes around this subject. The goal was to bring together a range of perspectives from Pakistan to allow Pakistani participants to chart a path forward on solar geoengineering governance.

In the context of this workshop, Hassaan Sipra and Dr. Imran Khalid also published a policy brief entitled “Governance of Solar Radiation Modification (SRM) – Developing the Pakistan Perspective.” Read the brief.

In addition to the workshop, the DSG team met with 17 civil society organizations, academic institutions, and government leaders to start building understanding and awareness around solar geoengineering and launch engagement efforts. 

Read more about the lessons learned from DSG’s Pakistan workshop and engagement.

September 2023: South Africa Engagement Efforts

The DSG team visited South Africa to meet with local academics and civil society organizations on the topic of solar geoengineering, governance, and engagement. DSG’s primary mission focuses on building the knowledge and understanding of solar geoengineering in the Global South, and seeks to empower local organizations to engage with the research and decision-making processes associated with this field. 

During this first visit, the DSG team met with 15 organizations and leaders on the ground in South Africa, between Cape Town and Johannesburg, including universities, think tanks, as well as advocacy, policy and research-oriented organizations. DSG hopes to build more engagement potential in South Africa, specifically around convening capacity-building workshops that allow civil society participants to familiarize themselves with climate vulnerability across Africa and provide foundational information about solar geoengineering and its governance. 

Read more about DSG’s engagement efforts in South Africa.

February 2023: India Engagement Efforts

In early 2023, the DSG team visited India and conducted several meetings with a diverse array of institutions and actors. The goal of this initial trip was to:

(1) learn how current funders and organizations are thinking about both solar geoengineering, if at all, as well as efforts around capacity building for civil society;

(2) explore ways that a new organization like DSG can be supportive of Indian-driven initiates and efforts to grow policy capacity in civil society;

(3) to start building the groundwork for collaborations through which DSG can help catalyze work.

Stay tuned for information about future workshops, engagement, and assessment tools.