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'...and Action!' How media can address climate change in countries most affected

Our policy note examines the value and impact of media and communication for climate action.

Saving our planet is now a communications challenge. We know what to do, we just need the will.
— Sir David Attenborough, broadcaster, natural historian and author (on Instagram)
If we cannot imagine our way out of the climate crisis, with the help of creatives, we will – frankly – not make it.
— Christiana Figueres, Founding Partner, Global Optimism and Former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, at the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Climate Creatives Festival

Publication date: November 2021

Overview:

Around the world, media is playing a growing role in helping people to understand climate science, question efforts to reduce carbon emissions and inspire sustainable behaviour.

This shift is powerful and positive. But it could go further– for the benefit of millions of people on the frontlines of climate change who are being pushed deeper into poverty.

Media content produced for people struggling to adapt to climate change - and not just about them - can maximise efforts to address climate change at speed, at scale and at comparatively low cost. It ensures that people most affected by climate change have access to trusted information, can discuss and weigh up their options, raise issues with decision makers, develop appropriate skills, and ultimately take action.

Media is critical in the climate crisis, because it can reach people at scale - watch how.

In this era of false and misleading information, we need trusted media and communication at the heart of efforts to tackle climate change.

Our policy note argues that donors, policymakers and climate experts can enhance the impact of their climate change plans and strategies by leveraging the power of media and communication.

Experts interviewed support this:

Experts like myself... we’ve created our own language. We need translators, like the media, to help us reach that bigger audience. And we need to put much greater investment in this.
— Clare Shakya, Climate Change Group Director, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
Carefully crafted media content has the potential to bridge significant gaps in distance, resource, and most importantly trust. It is this trust that will generate agency and change.
— Dr Jonathan Stone, Deputy Head, Climate Adaptation Department, UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Two men interview a woman in traditional colourful clothing in rural northern Kenya. One is holding a small recorder. The landscape is dry.
A journalist interviews a woman in rural northern Kenya as part of our Weather Wise project, connecting journalists, climate scientists and local communities for clearer, more accurate and more impactful media programmes. Credit: Diana Njeru/´óÏó´«Ã½ Media Action
They learn from looking at other farmers, they learn from the agricultural extension [services], and they learn from radio and television. We have some very good radio and television programmes that provide this kind of information to people, and people watch them, and they learn from them.
— Professor Saleemul Huq, Director, International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD)
What we are missing is engaging the media as an active participant. They are not there to be used and just receive instructions… We need to engage them equally.
— Dr German Velasquez, Director of the Division of Mitigation and Adaptation, Green Climate Fund
A film crew films a man speaking to their camera, all while standing in shallow water among trees.
A ´óÏó´«Ã½ Media Action crew films in Tonle Sap, Cambodia, for the Don't Wait for Rain series. The series linked ordinary people with experts and others who had developed simple, practical solutions for weather- and climate-related challenges including flooding, drought, and crops infested with insects.
Not only can the media provide vital information and suggest practical solutions to climate-affected communities, but in areas also impacted by conflict, there can be opportunities to help build the social cohesion needed for communities to work together on peaceful solutions ... and increase the voice of those most affected.
— Florian Krampe, Director and Senior Researcher, Climate Change and Risk Programme, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
A ´óÏó´«Ã½ Media Action crew films a man sitting in front of his thatched house in an arid landscape in northern Kenya
A ´óÏó´«Ã½ Media Action crew films Lomilio at his home in northern Kenya. The area was devastated by flash flooding more than 18 months before, washing away his entire herd of goats - but hasn't had any rain since. Photo credit: Diana Njeru/´óÏó´«Ã½ Media Action

This policy note was prepared thanks to funding from Bright Future Trust, which aims to provide transformational and sustainable support to charities that are changing lives in the UK and around the world.

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