The 16th Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP16) on Saturday reached its first consensus by approving a proposal on education, training and consciousness as part of efforts to mitigate climate change.

The working group charged with drawing up the document came up with a definitive proposal that would be approved by the COP16 implementation body and then included in the Cancun accord.

The proposal commits signatories to promote formal and informal education strategies covering the climate change phenomenon.

It also pledges to strengthen information and coordination regionally and locally to promote training programs for all citizens.

"One of the most important aspects of adaptation and mitigation is people's behavior," said Guatemala's Environment Minister Luis Ferrate.

"We have to create a citizenry that is more conscious of climate change,and that means education and training," he added.

Ferrate also said he was confident that trust between the parties would last for the remaining days of the COP16 which will close on Friday.

The COP16 opened on Nov. 29 in Cancun, resort city on Mexico's Caribbean coast, in the quest for a binding global agreement on tackling global climate change.

The conference has drawn government officials, business people as well as members of non-governmental organizations and research institutions from nearly 200 countries or regions.

(Xinhua News Agency December 6, 2010)