Communicating climate change: A practitioner’s guide

Communicating climate change: A practitioner’s guideInsights from CDKN’s work in Africa, Asia and Latin AmericaDecember 2018

Introducing CDKN

Mission • CDKN works to enhance the quality of life for the poorest and most vulnerable to climate change, including women and girls. We support decision‐makers in designing and delivering climate compatible development.

• Combine knowledge, research and technical advice in support of locally owned and managed policy processes.

• We work in partnership with decision‐makers in the public, private and non‐governmental sectors nationally, regionally and globally.

Climate and Development Knowledge Network | www.cdkn.org

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Current programme focus

• Knowledge: we synthesise and tailor evidence and learning on climate compatible development to produce knowledge products, services and tools to support policy design and implementation.

• Engagement: we engage in countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to ensure this tailored knowledge is used and achieves impact.

• Peer learning: we bring developing countries together to share their experiences and learning on delivering climate action and nurture climate leadership.


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Climate and Development Knowledge Network | www.cdkn.org/communicating 5

Scope of this session

Here we share CDKN’s lessons from communicating climate change in developing countries. Covers:• Government and

business audiences• The general public,

community audiences

We hope you will contribute, too!

!

About

‘Communicating climate change’ written by CDKN’s Knowledge Management and Communications staff, who have been working since 2010 to engage people on: • Climate information• Impacts of climate change

and adaptation solutions• Opportunities of the low‐

carbon transition

6Climate and Development Knowledge Network | www.cdkn.org/communicating

Coming up

• Use universal principles for effective communication• Get the climate change framing right• Forge partnerships for impact• Be smart about visualising climate change• Make good science go viral• Walk the walk

Universal principles (1)

Be clear about who you want to reach. Understand intended audience’s knowledge and values before creating

communications campaigns. Use framing and language that will resonate with target audiences and

evolve their understanding of, and contribution to, an issue.

Case study: Public campaign

• Advice on staying safe in dangerous heat

• Pitched at audience’s level of understanding

• Visuals to catch attention and for those who are less literate


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Case study: Cross sector campaign

• Appealing to businesses, local government and communities to address climate risks in order to be viable in the future

• Conscious of and highlighting the amazing cultural heritage at stake from sea level rise and other climate change impacts

• Founded on and asserting the authority of a broad based partnership


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Segment the audience, and tailor communications to each group’s specific concerns and needs, where appropriate.

Work to identify who are the best ‘messengers’ for your content: who is most likely to capture the attention of your intended audience?

Case study: Framing for business

• CDKN initiative with Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) to communicate climate change to the private sector: e.g. tourism, agro‐processing and manufacturing.

• Briefing notes on ‘Climate Change and Your Business’.

• Highlighted that responding to climate change could be good for the bottom line and create opportunities for the private sector: new products and services in response to new market demands created by climate change.


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Request audience feedback often. Revise and update messaging, content and engagement activities to

improve when things aren’t working well.


Combine well tailored knowledge products – in multiple formats–with face to face engagement and digital interaction.

Strategic audience

scoping and understanding

audience need

Digital engagement:

webinars, social media,

website

Knowlegeproducts: tailored, layered,

mulit-format

Face to face engagement:

events

Borrow communication strategies from other sectors

Some communication and engagement techniques used successfully elsewhere (e.g. public health campaigns) translate well.For instance:

• Story‐telling through theatre and role play.

• Toys, puppets, 3D models for interaction.

• Art and photography competitions, exhibitions.


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Get in your audience’s shoes

“How does climate change affect me?”

• “Are the changes that I’m experiencing in my environment part of something bigger?

• Will there be more changes in the future weather and climate in my area?

• What future changes should I expect and how soon?

• How can I cope better now? • How can I prepare for the future?”


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Get in your audience’s shoes

Policy and business audiences:

“How will the changing weather and climate affect my • …company?• …jurisdiction?• …constituents?• …financial portfolio?”


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Framing climate change impacts

Framing for everyone

• Use human interest stories that illuminate climate impacts ‘in a nutshell’.

• Back human stories with authoritative data and analysis, giving big picture context(be sure of your science).

• Highlight – where appropriate – iconic cultural and historic assets that are at risk from climate change.

• Be aware of creeping and insidious climate risks that compound damage (the ‘invisible’ risks), not just the big, visible disasters.


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Framing climate change impacts

Framing for business audiences• Risks to company profit and/or entire

business model posed by climate change impacts to workers, physical assets, production systems, supply chain.

Framing for public policy audiences• Risks to achieving public policy goals,

especially to ending poverty; promoting sustainable economy.


Framing climate adaptation solutions

Framing for everyone• Action on adaptation can prevent loss of

livelihoods and assets • Positive solutions that make economic sense

are appealing! (good news works, not just bad news)

Framing for businesses• Action on adaptation creates a resilient firm

with long term prospects for stability, value.

Framing for public policy audiences• Action on adaptation (‘prevention’) costs less

than the ‘cure’ – make the economic case.• Obligations and opportunities offered by Paris

Agreement and related national commitments.


Framing climate mitigation solutions


Framing for everyone• Climate‐friendly solutions can support health

and wellbeing, eg tackling air pollution through zero‐emission transport and energy

• Save money from the quickest wins (energy efficiency, reducing demand)

Framing for public policy audiences• Action on mitigation reduces the need to

spend money on addressing climate impacts in future (although this messaging can be country specific and has climate justice angle)

Framing for businesses• Green jobs, green industry and services will

be more economically sustainable, offer opportunities for growth. > MORE

Forge partnerships for impact

Citizen science mobilises everyone’s knowledge and insights to create common understanding of problems and solutions.

Crowd‐source information to support climate action: informing and engaging the public helps to capture and compile relevant knowledge to address climate challenges.

Case study: knowledge partnerships, Belize


• WWF Mesoamerica used locally available knowledge and data from socio‐economic and ecological research, and from communities living in the cities and towns on the cost, to understand how interests of tourism can be reconciled with the protection of fragile coastal marine ecosystems.

• Key success of initiative was Government of Belize’s adoption of integrated coastal zone management plan in 2016.

Case study: Water Walks, India


• Bringing people from the community and institutions together has been essential to develop a shared lived experience of a degraded river corridor in Madurai, Tamil Nadu

• The ‘Water Walk’ became not just a means of documenting impacts and vulnerability to climate change but also a forum for interactive and deliberation

• It was ‘action planning’

Turn up the volume of voices that haven’t been heard

Examples of how women and girls – underrepresented in decision‐making processes – have been given a voice on climate issues:

• Training in how to film themselves• Providing a platform on radio

Be smart about visualising climate changeData visualisation techniques can present the impacts of climate change in scientifically accurate and compelling ways that transform awareness and can even catalyse behaviour change.

Showing the impacts of climate change visually can be a decisive factor in bringing some stakeholders to the table.

Walk the walkClimate communicators can do much to avoid greenhouse gas emissions in the course of their work and still create impactful engagements.

Sometimes it has to do with the way a campaign is designes.

Rapid expansion of ICTs has revolutionised the way that people can interact.

Digital platforms


• Social media – closed as well as open groups• Webinars for real‐time interaction• Text‐only real‐time online conversations like

twitter and scribblelive chatrooms, Slack, etc• E‐learning platforms including Massive Open

Online Courses (MOOCs) with access to ‘experts’ and fellow practitioners

• Virtual conferences

• Keep in mind who has internet access and who has not – women and rural populations are less connected – invest in off‐line and inclusive measures too (decentralised campaign models).

Make good science go viral

CDKN produced communications toolkit of IPCC Fifth Assessment Report: ‘What’s in it for Africa …South Asia …Latin America and …Small Island Developing States?’

Infographics, pictures, easy‐access texts: shareable, robust information

@cdknetwork

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www.cdkn.org

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Communicating climate change: A practitioner’s guide

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