According to Article 4.1 (i), all Parties have committed themselves to "Promote and cooperate in education, training and public awareness related to climate change and encourage the widest participation in this process, including that of non-governmental organizations".

Article 6 of the Convention also states that, in carrying out their commitments under Article 4.1 (i), the Parties shall "promote and facilitate...the development and implementation of educational and public awareness programs on climate change and its effects". It also calls on Parties to "cooperate in and promote, at the international level, and, where appropriate, using existing bodies...the development and exchange of educational and public awareness material on climate change and its effects."

Moreover, Article 10 (e) of the recent Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC has requested all Parties to "Cooperate in and promote at the international level, and, where appropriate, using existing bodies, the development and implementation of education and training programs, including the strengthening of national capacity building, in particular human and institutional capacities and the exchange or secondment of personnel to train experts in this field, in particular for developing countries, and facilitate at the national level public awareness and public access to information on climate change...". 

From March through July, 1998, a survey was carried out by the Coordination on Global Change Research of the Ministry of Science and Technology to analyze and survey the particular circumstances and needs of Brazil, as part of the research phase that will lead to the drafting of a pilot project to launch a Program on Climate Change Awareness, likely to be developed in partnership with UNEP under UNEP Climate Awareness Program and using a methodology proposed by UNEP.

The survey explored the context in which climate change awareness-raising needs to take place, who the target audiences should be, what media or channels would be most effective in reaching them, and who CAP's potential partners are.

The main tasks included:

A literature search to identify key studies and other documents that are useful in understanding the national climate change situation;

Short interviews with a cross section of 25 individuals drawn from government, civil society, and the private sector;

Interviews with officials from 10 organizations (governmental and non-governmental);

In-depth interviews with 5 climate change experts;