The 15th Annual Psychology Day at the United Nations a program of the psychology coalition at the united nations

THE 15TH ANNUAL PSYCHOLOGY DAY 2022 CONCEPT NOTE

TITLE: "Building Hope: Psychological Contributions to a Roadmap for Climate Action."

Climate change is the biggest collective action challenge facing our generation. Its impacts are already being observed : temperatures are rising, drought and wildfires occur more frequently, rainfall patterns are shifting, glaciers and snow are melting, and the global mean sea level is rising.

Climate change is a unique challenge as addressing it is beyond the reach of any single country, sector or individual, thus raising issues of stakeholder heterogeneity in willingness and ability, social dilemma, and interdependence – observing who is participating and contributing so as to judge whether to join and how much to contribute. Climate change is also experienced at the individual level, impacting health (mental and physical) through exposure to events such as natural disasters, shrinking of resources, or group conflicts. The perception that the challenge is intractable also leads to worry, anxiety, and “eco-paralysis.”

In response to the challenge, the United Nations’ President of the 76th General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid (from the Maldives), noted that hope is desperately needed. He also said that on issues such as climate change he would “never give up hope that humanity will rise to the occasion.” Since people, organizations, and communities worldwide are resilient when faced with adversity, hope can be harnessed into a resilience factor, reducing emotional problems and steering efforts towards action for adaptation and mitigation.

Psychological science can offer a multilevel approach (individual, family, community, local, national, international) to these challenges. The Psychology Day 2022 program will present psychologists from different sub-disciplines and various regions of the world who will address the issues of rising to the challenge of climate change and provide pathways to action. They will address how we can use the knowledge on human behavior change and intervention development to increase actions for climate mitigation and adaptation and decrease eco-paralysis. A Psychologist with expertise on implementation science will integrate the contributions by addressing the intersectionality of different levels of adaptation, mitigation, resilience, and growth culminating with a roadmap leading to the translation of psychological knowledge into practice and by doing this supporting the implementation of the SDGs.

The Psychology Day program for 2022 will bring together science and practice of psychology to discuss the latest psychological research on climate change, and evidence-based strategies that can assist the UN and other groups to mitigate and adapt more effectively to the challenges of emerging from changing climate.

We look forward to your participation!

With best regards,

Vera Araujo Soares, Ph.D

Efrat Neter, Ph.D

Kalyani Gopal, Ph.D, HSPP

2022 Psychology Day at the United Nations Program Committee Co-Chairs

Welcome Address to the 14th Annual Psychology Day: President Dr Leslie Popoff, 2021.