Messaging key in climate issues

By Peter Makwanya | Jul. 8, 2024 | 5 Min read

Lots of faith invested in traditional messaging outlets like television, radio and the print media may not have produced favourable outcomes despite their popularity. Radio, television and print messaging may have suffered assumption fatigue and supposition as they have been taken for granted for too long.

Climate knowledge, information packaging and dissemination are key pillars and ingredients in the packaging and unpacking of climate messages to targeted audiences for consumption, knowledge creation and decision making.

Taking an inclusive, intersectional, community-based approach is vital but some key climate messages have been lost either in translation, ambiguities, over assumption, exclusionary effect through costs, structural barriers, access and language use.

The first assumption is that when a message is communicated communication has taken place. That is a dangerous assumption as communication is more than that.

The power of mass media is to reach a wide audience, shape public opinion, set the agenda and influence public opinion but I am not quite sure about its impact on climate change communication.

While locally-led climate adaptations are the way to go, communities have been bombarded by climate messages that are not generated locally hence there are high chances of missing the intended target or largely assumed audiences. In this regard, there are still power relations at play in terms of channelling, contextualising, localising and consuming climate change real time data and messages.

The same people and communities vulnerable to climate impacts are the active agents of change in their societies. They are also trusted decision makers in their localities but their local knowledge of what counts more is not put at the centre of climate information delivery. This is the community-based knowledge that has suffered low opinion and lack of integration with new knowledge economy, to be collected, collated and documented, to reflect the true spirit of humanism.

While television has played an important role in climate information dissemination, the cost of using this form of medium for public information on climate change is still restrictive but highly assumed. Television messaging normally suffer from selective retention as viewers often rank programmes in terms of juicy impact of which climate change is not in that category. While television helps a lot in showing climate-induced disasters, cyclones, flooding and destructive winds, the human mind can quickly forget. The attention span on disasters is quite geared but can easily be lost and overtaken by events.

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While radio broadcast remains a key communication tool, which can be readily available in cars, shops, supermarkets, mobile phones, buses or homes, it also attracts relative costs, in batteries if they are not solar powered. Despite the presence of radio services in many places, some important stakeholders are still left out, as airtime is still paid for, in its diversity and inclusive nature. Nevertheless, radio, despite some minor challenges, remains the climate adaptation tool of choice.

While newspapers and other forms of print media are still packaged in engaging, interactive and branded ways, they tend to appeal to a certain section of the population. Out of choice, readers can choose to read news online and come across climate news by coincidence or by choice. Buying a copy of print media newspaper, listening to the radio and watching television, does not mean that people will be looking for climate change information but we can only assume. These are the assumptions that give misleading statistics on climate readership unless proven through surveys or opinion polls.

While TV, radio, the print and online media influence climate discussions and set agendas on climate change, there has been too much reliance on these channels due to the power of their delivery mode but which still suffers from selective readership and retention. The advent of community radios can still be tailor-made to be locally relevant due to their coverage of a specific geographical location including communicating in the language of the target audiences, in ways that match their cultural traditions.

The internet remains largely available, providing up to date information on climate change, through various social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, X, Instagram, YouTube, Telegram, among others. Google, LinkedIn and Yahoo are also awash with climate news where journal repositories, leading researchers and individual experts lock horns debating climate knowledge and information.

Depending on where one is based, in many developing countries, these platforms are still beyond the reach of many and accessing them requires availability of data, which the majority do not have.

If people are strategically positioned and well resourced, it is easier for them to access these platforms while it is not the case with most stakeholders in developing countries who dream of accessing these platforms but cannot due to data challenges. In this regard, assumption would normally override rationality in the sense that those who are able to access information will obviously have a voice better than the majority without information.

For locally-led climate adaptations and marginal areas, oramedia is key. Oral media or Oral Arts, come in various forms, folklore, songs, storytelling, dances, environmental games, drama, role-plays, oral ethics, among others. All these can be used to popularise climate change messaging due to their being within the people and for the people, exclusively human centred.

Oramedia is vital as it is grounded in indigenous cultures and draw lots of inspiration from indigenous knowledge systems (IKS). It also draws lots of inspiration from indigenous communication systems which are locally-based and unique to given cultures in communities. Indigenous communication is still relevant to this day even in the advent of technology. Oramedia in the African context is culturally regulated and grounded in IKS, underscoring the need for indigenous communication systems which define human interactions and worldview. Indigenous communication systems immerse the local communities in their rich history and traditions. In this regard, information will focus on the audience rather than the argument, to bring the desired behavioural change using local languages and communication adaptation approaches to create inclusive adaptation approaches.

The question is no longer about which climate messaging or techniques are popular but which messaging techniques are accessible, people and culture specific resonating sufficiently well with their livelihood options. Oramedia strengthens the capacity of African media to cover climate change and influence action and decision making. Oramedia is vital in its raw and original state as it is not constrained by militating political and economic factors. It remains rich, free, diverse and sustainably inclusive.

Indigenous values and environmental stewardship have important lessons for adaptation in Africa. Local communities have deeper connections with the land and natural resources which hold intrinsic and economic including non-economic values.

Peter Makwanya is a climate change communicator. He writes in his personal capacity and can be contacted on: [email protected].