Climate Change Information Research Articles

CSR committees and the voluntary disclosures of climate change information in France

This study examines the effect of CSR committees on voluntary climate change disclosures. Using a sample of SBF 120 listed companies from 2018 to 2022, we find that the presence of CSR committees increases the disclosure of opportunities and forward-looking information on climate change. Additionally, we find that these results are mostly driven by the size of CSR committees. Our results suggest that CSR committees encourage voluntary climate change disclosures due to the informational and economic gains of having an expert sub-board committee responsible for overseeing environmental matters.

Visual Framing of Climate Change in Selected Newspapers in Kenya

Raw information on issues such as climate change and the environment can be incomprehensible and meaningless to segments of the media audience. To ease audience's understanding of such information, the media may filter and (re)construct both the information and the experiences that generated it; this is called framing. This study analysed how climate change is visually framed in selected print media in a bid to understand how this could influence the audience's understanding of climate change information. This study was guided by the Framing Theory. Data was collected from two newspapers in Kenya (The Standard and Daily Nation) published between January 2013 and December 2017 which were purposively sampled due to their wide circulation and coverage. Qualitative content analysis was used both as a methodology and a data collection tool and the data analysed thematically. The study findings indicated that visuals were rarely used in the selected newspapers. From the findings, the depiction of actors was mainly based on their social class. The most dominant visual frame was the politicians and talking head frame. A new frame that was depicted in this study was the humour imagery frame. The causes of climate change are depicted as small causes and small solutions, but the impacts are depicted as large scale which can lead to low self-efficacy amongst the citizens. This study concludes that visual framing of climate change is an area not fully embraced by the media in presenting climate change, yet it offers an array of opportunities to communicate the climate change message.

Prediction of heatwave related mortality magnitude, duration and frequency with climate variability and climate change information

Given the link between climatic factors on one hand, such as climate change and low frequency climate oscillation indices, and the occurrence and magnitude of heat waves on the other hand, and given the impact of heat waves on mortality, these climatic factors could provide some predictive skill for mortality. We propose a new model, the Mortality-Duration-Frequency (MDF) relationship, to relate the intensity of an extreme summer mortality event to its duration and frequency. The MDF model takes into account the non-stationarities observed in the mortality data through covariates by integrating information concerning climate change through the time trend and climate variability through climate oscillation indices. The proposed approach was applied to all-cause mortality data from 1983 to 2018 in the metropolitan regions of Quebec and Montreal in eastern Canada. In all cases, models introducing covariates lead to a substantial improvement in the goodness-of-fit in comparison to stationary models without covariates. Climate change signal is more important than climate variability signal in explaining maximum summer mortality. However, climate indices successfully explain a part of the interannual variability in the maximum summer mortality. Overall, the best models are obtained with the time trend and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) used as covariates. No country has yet integrated teleconnection information in their heat-health watch and warning systems or adaptation plans. MDF modeling has the potential to be useful to public health managers for the planning and management of health services. It allows predicting future MDF curves for adaptive management using the values of the covariates.

Examining the (non-linear) relationships between climate change anxiety, information seeking, and pro-environmental behavioral intentions

Climate change anxiety—overwhelming feelings of distress about climate change—is increasingly recognized as an important mental health consequence of climate change. A growing body of literature has documented positive associations between climate change anxiety, information seeking/avoidance, and pro-environmental behavioral intentions. Recent speculation exists about the possibility of non-linear associations between climate anxiety and other outcomes; for example, among people with very high climate anxiety, information seeking might be lower— because it is too distressing —than among those with moderate anxiety. Similarly, very high levels of climate anxiety might result in lower behavioral intentions. The present research aimed to replicate and extend findings concerning relations between climate anxiety, information seeking/avoidance, and pro-environmental behavioral intentions by correlating these variables and testing for possible non-linearities in the relationships. Results confirmed that climate anxiety was positively correlated with information seeking, avoidance, and a measure of hypothetical behavioral intentions. Quadratic regression models yielded mixed evidence for the presence of non-linearities, with non-linearity present for some variables (e.g., information avoidance and hypothetical behavioral intentions) but not for others (e.g., seeking out data about climate change). We consider implications of our results and discuss directions for future research to bolster understanding of how climate anxiety relates to information seeking, avoidance, and behavior.

Examining the impact of climate information access on adaptive behaviors during heatwaves: insights from Central Vietnam

This study focuses on the correlation between the different sources of climatic information involving the Short Message Service (SMS), social networks, local governments, online platforms, and workplaces and the individual adaptation measures concerning heatwaves. The survey data were obtained from four areas in central Vietnam involving 400 respondents. We used propensity score matching (PSM) to estimate the average treatment effect on the treated, aiming to mitigate selection bias. Findings indicate that the availability of various information sources encourages communities to address rising heat stress, with information sourced from SMS, social media platforms, local authorities, and workplaces being prominent. The findings signal the need to increase the visibility of heatwave data, which can change people’s behavior to reduce climate risks. In order to accomplish this goal, it is important to focus on climate change information sharing through platforms such as social networks, local administration offices, and the workplace in coping with climate change-related threats.

Climate Change Adaptation Information Usability Among Maize Farmers in Ido Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria

The availability of climate change information has not always led to more successful adaptation; even when climate change adaptation information is available, there are still obstacles to its efficient use. Furthermore, the tactics required to communicate climate information to end-users for successful adaptation have received less attention. This study focuses on utilization of available climate change adaptation information among maize farmers in the study area. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 203 respondents for data collection. The data were collected using a questionnaire and analysed through the use of the standard statistical package for social sciences. The communication strategies used include inter-personal, audio, visual and social media. The results revealed that the strategies used in communicating climate change adaptation information to maize farmers in the study area yielded great influence in terms of benefits to the farmers such as the increase in income, prevention of yield loss, reduced soil degradation, maintaining good human health status, and improved weed management. The information that is popularly utilised is mixed cropping (61.6%), water management (58.1%), and early warning (58.1%). A significant relationship existed between communication channels (r=0.8, p<.05) and respondents’ climate change adaptation information utilization. Poor understanding of the message and lack of funds to put the information into practice hinders some respondents from utilising adaptation information. Hence, extension agents need to locate these category farmers and link them with service providers that could provide incentives or credit facilities for sustainable utilisation of available information to combat climate change.

Opportunities for meaningful climate change engagement in vulnerable nature settings

Abstract Nature‐based tourism has a unique opportunity, and arguably responsibility, to promote widespread action on climate change. However, research suggests an aversion to providing information that might appear divisive or ‘ruin’ peoples day, particularly in places that are vulnerable to degradation. We explore how exposure to climate change information in vulnerable nature settings influences indicators of (i) the visitor experience and (ii) climate change engagement. Using a quasi‐experimental approach, we provided climate information on tourist boats operating on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia and compared visitor experiences with a control condition where climate information was not provided. Visitor surveys (n = 656) assessed perceptions and experiences. Overall, visitors on trips where climate information was provided were more likely to report that the reef experience exceeded their expectations and did not report any reduction in subjective trip satisfaction. However, we detected minimal effects of climate information on indicators of climate engagement (threat awareness, action awareness, or information seeking), suggesting room for improvement in interpretation approach and design. Indeed, visitors reported high levels of acceptability for incorporating more information about climate change, particularly about actions. Synthesis and applications: These results suggest that providing climate information does not undermine visitor experiences and while further research is required to determine the most effective approach for influencing climate change engagement, an appetite for more information exists. It is possible that what tourism operators are fearful of, may be an opportunity to improve outcomes aligned with both industry and environmental objectives. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

The Role of Charismatic Leadership Tactics and Inconsistent Messages in Processing and Evaluating Climate Change Information

Climate change poses an unprecedented challenge to humanity, and persuasive environmental communication is a crucial step for global leaders to counteract its consequences. Charismatic leaders are especially effective in communicating information. Interestingly, in recent years, there have been frequent incidences where charismatic leaders made inconsistent environmental statements. How people process such inconsistencies can provide key insights into understanding the processing of climate information. In two preregistered online studies (N = 668), we examined how people read and evaluate pro- and contra-environmentalism messages from an environmental, charismatic leader. We found persistent effects of message inconsistencies, leading to longer reading times and lower convincingness ratings for information. However, we failed to find an interaction effect of the experimental manipulations or a main effect of charisma on reading times for environmental messages. In Study 2, we detected an interaction effect of leader charisma and message inconsistency on how convincing participants rated text messages. Participants rated contra-environmental messages as more convincing when following displays of charismatic rather than neutral leader behavior. We discuss future research avenues to explore charismatic leader influences on processing climate change information.

Meaningful climate change communication: an analysis of women dry season farmers in Kuliyaa community of Ghana

ABSTRACT Access to climate change information can play a critical role in helping rural women adapt to climate change. Our research investigates the communication channels used for climate education among female dry-season farmers in the Kuliyaa community of northern Ghana. Particularly, we address access to climate change information among smallholder female farmers. We adopted a community-based participatory approach to guide the study. To achieve our research objectives of investigating climate change communication channels among smallholder female farmers, specific methods of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were used to gather knowledge from smallholder female farmers. The research findings provide a well-rounded exploration of the unique climate change communication challenges female farmers face and the innovative approaches they have adopted to share climate change information. Specifically, the findings show that women have adopted innovative oral communication channels to disseminate and transfer climate knowledge among themselves. We also found that there is limited access to radio in the Kuliyaa community making them resort to group meetings to share knowledge and ideas empowering them economically in other livelihoods. The study discovered the community utilises gender inclusivity in decision-making. We recommend that the government and other relevant organisations to develop and implement a strategic policy on climate information dissemination with a focus on supporting farmers in rural communities of Ghana to mitigate climate change effects. Technologies can also be developed to aid in disseminating relevant information to farmers in rural areas as the available oral communication is less effective in disseminating useful information on climate change.

Climate change awareness and information utilisation and dissemination in rural areas of Nsanje district

Background: Climate information communication is the heart of climate service delivery which provide knowledge to help guide individuals and other stakeholders to make climate smart decisions. Therefore, this study explored awareness, utilization and dissemination of climate information in rural areas of Nsanje district. Methods: The study used both quantitative and qualitative research design that does not involve the designing of an experiment. This focuses much on the descriptive research design. The advantage of using this research design in this study was that the participants’ accuracy was clearly depicted. Finding: The results showed that 63 percent of the people in rural areas access climate information through radio and 33 percent do not use it at all. Multinomial logistic regression indicate that floods and crop pests are significant predictors of the location of an individual whether lives in flood prone area or not with p-values of 0.02 and 0.04 respectively, and this shows that people understand climate change based on the impacts felt. This also shows that crop pests are more prevalent in flood prone zones. Conclusion: The study concluded that there is a need to adopt climate communication channels that are more interactive and recruit more extension workers who are agents to promote the use of climate information. Novelty/Originality of this article: This study proposes developing a community-based interactive climate communication model that integrates mobile technology and local extension worker networks to improve the accessibility and understanding of climate information in rural areas.

Examining the Role of Lower-Level Local Government Leaders in Mitigating Climate Change Impacts on Smallholder Farmers

The agricultural sector remains the main source of livelihoods for rural communities in Tanzania, but faces the challenge of changing climate. This study aimed at assessing the roles played with local government leaders towards smallholder farmers escaping from climate change effects. Specifically, the study examined the influence of Climate change information Adoptive strategies, Updated farming knowledge from local government leaders on smallholders’ ability to escape from climate change effects. The study employed a cross-sectional research design on 200 smallholder farmers. Data collection methods included survey, key informants’ interview (KIIs) and focus group discussions. The study collected and analysed both qualitative and quantitative data from primary and secondary sources. Quantitative data were analysed using a multiple regression model while the qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. findings revealed that local government leaders are not effectively supporting smallholders farmers escaping from climate change effects since the result under this study reveal that local government leaders are not providing supporting knowledge to smallholder farmers on climate change and strategies towards its adoptions, it can be concluded that local government leaders has a slight influence on supporting smallholders farmers to escape from climate change effects in the study area since observed that local leaders are not providing adequate climate and its adoption strategies. The study concludes that local government leaders have less knowledge on climate issues hence negatively influencing smallholder farmers to escape from climate change effects due to the absence of local government employees development program particularly to wards and village executive officers who are directly closely to local natives by increasing the ability of the smallholders’ farmers to have good wellbeing performance. The study recommends to the Moshi District Council particularly to local government leaders and ministry of agricultural to establish capacity building program to local government employees working at lower levels and local government leaders have to include climate change information agenda in their assembly to ensure farmers are updated with climate change issues.

Media Influence on Climate Change Discourse in Pakistan

This study delves into the examination of public perceptions concerning the influence of media on the discourse surrounding climate change in Pakistan. By scrutinizing the role of media in shaping social, political, biological, and economic narratives related to the climate crisis, this research aims to provide insights into the dynamic interaction between media representations and public understanding of environmental issues. Through comprehensive analysis, the study seeks to uncover the complexities of how media portrayal influences public perceptions and responses to climate change in the Pakistani context. The project objectives were how information on climate change is communicated and received across varied groups, with a focus on understanding the influence of media outlets such as television, radio, and internet platforms. For this purpose, it affects the level of climate change awareness in different places. The study emphasizes the significance of developing personalized communication techniques for different locations in order to successfully address the particular difficulties that each community faces. It also looks at the media's role in promoting sustainable practices and instilling a feeling of environmental responsibility in the public. The study emphasizes the importance of improved coordination across media outlets, government agencies, and environmental organizations in order to improve the accuracy and reach of climate change information. Understanding the impact of the media on rural and urban people is critical for establishing targeted interventions that contribute to a more informed and environmentally conscious society in Pakistan, however, the outcome of the study shows that the majority of the respondents are well aware of the environmental and climate change issues but majority of them do not practice the same precautions.

ANALYSING THE NEXUS OF WEATHER ON COTTON PRODUCTION IN SINDH PAKISTAN: USING ARDL BOUND TEST

Climate change is expected to have impacts on plants, crops, and insect pests, and pose substantial pressures to sustainable food security. This research investigates the impact of weather changes on the production of cotton crops in Sindh, Pakistan by analyzing both short-term and long-term effects. Hence by employing annual time-series data of 58 years from 1961 to 2018 to explore the causal relationship between climate variables and specifically cotton production. For this purpose the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test was applied and was significantly stationary at 1st difference, ensuring robust econometric analysis. In addition to understanding the long-run and short-run effects, the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds test was applied. Short-term findings reveal that a 1% increase in logged annual cotton area (CA) leads to a 0.671% rise in cotton production (CP), and a similar 1% increment in logged annual rainfall in kharif (R) results in a 0.224% increase in cotton production. The long-term relationships between weather variables and cotton yields were confirmed through the Johansen cointegration test, suggesting persistent climate impacts over time. It is recommended that authorities identify and promote the cultivation of temperature variation-tolerant cotton varieties and enhance the focus on agricultural research and technological innovation. To support these initiatives, timely and farm-specific climate change information should be disseminated. Adoption of advanced, cost-effective agricultural technologies can significantly improve crop yields. These strategic responses are essential to mitigate the adverse effects of climate variability on agriculture in Sindh, ensuring sustainable cotton production and economic stability for cotton farming communities.

Patterns of belief and trust in climate change information

AbstractA crucial hurdle to addressing climate change is science denial. While research suggests that science denial is related to judgments individuals make about the credibility of information sources, less is known about how source credibility and characteristics of the individual interact to affect science denial. In the present study, we examined the extent to which individuals' belief in climate change claims and trust in the sources of these claims were influenced by the interaction between the political leaning of information sources (i.e., conservative media vs. liberal media vs. scientific institutions), individuals' political ideologies, and individuals' epistemic beliefs (beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing). We found that both individuals' belief in climate change information and trust in sources were predicted by interactions between these variables. For example, participants who believed that facts are not politically constructed were more likely to believe in climate information and trust scientific sources, regardless of the participant's partisanship. These findings suggest that epistemic profiles associated with deference to scientific sources might protect against climate change denial. Therefore, cultivating such epistemic beliefs and the skills to critically evaluate sources could be instrumental to combating climate change denial.

Effect of Climate Change on Sustainability of Cassava Production in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Over time, climate change has negatively influenced cassava production affecting yield and output of farmers. This has also affected the economic returns from cassava farming. A total of 78 cassava farmers were drawn using purposive sampling technique. Primary data were collected using a questionnaire and were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean and ordinary least square multiple regression model. Results shows that majority of the cassava farmers were male (67.9%), married (56.4%), experienced (70.5%) with a productive age of 55 years. Majority of the cassava farmers, (55.1%) perceived that cassava production in the area was highly sustainable as against 17.9% of the cassava farmers that differed. The identified climate change hazards on cassava production were decreased cassava yield (61.5%), reduced income (97.4%), land degradation (84.6%), increased pest and disease problems (65.4%), drought and water scarcity (88.5%), and increased production costs (97.4%). Temperature (P<0.01), rainfall (P<0.01), and number of rainy days (P<0.05) impacted cassava production negatively, while sunshine hours (P<0.05), and relative humidity (P<0.01) positively impacted cassava production. Insufficient planting materials (98.7%), soil fertility issues (91.0%), insufficient or irregular rainfall (89.7%), limited access to credit or financial resources (87.2%), high costs of inputs (100%), and low yields (75.6%) constrained cassava production in the area. Farmers should seek early climate change information from nearest metrological centers in their locality to mitigate adverse effects of climate change on cassava production.

Determinants of climate change adaptation strategies and intensity of use; micro level evidence from crop farmers in Kenya

Climate change and its negative impacts pose a threat to crop production in Kenya. However, climate change adaptation strategies have the potential to address the challenges faced by crop farmers. Despite this, there is limited literature to inform policy on the best interventions to help farmers deal with climate issues. This study assessed the determinants of climate change adaptation strategies and the intensity of their use among 723 crop farmers in Busia County, Kenya, selected through a multistage sampling technique. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA), multinomial logit regression, and the ordered probit model. The climate change adaptation strategies were categorized into crop diversity, cover crops, use of drought-resistant crops, and irrigation. According to the results, the factors contributing to the uptake of the different adaptation strategies were age, household size, access to credit, training access, off-farm income, group membership, frequency of receiving climate change information, and extension services. The major factors influencing the uptake of multiple climate change adaptation strategies were access to credit and off-farm income. The study shows that certain adaptation strategies, such as using cover crops, do not require credit and offer an important option in an environment with limited resources. On the other hand, adaptation measures such as irrigation demand financial resources for farmers to implement them, highlighting the importance of information and awareness in adopting adaptation strategies and the supportive role of financial resources, particularly for adopting multiple strategies. Therefore, this study suggests implementing policies and interventions that encompass knowledge-based strategies such as extension services, training, climate change education, group participation, and financial mechanisms like income generation activities and access to credit. These integrated strategies will enable farmers to adopt various climate change adaptation methods for sustainable crop production.

Evidence-based Management in a Domain of Contested Information: Public Managers, Climate Change, and the Precursor of Knowledge Management

Accurate information is necessary for addressing the many problems found in an increasingly complex world. Public managers are expected to embrace the evidence-based practice of emphasizing the role of scientific information in the decision making process. Nowhere should this be truer than in complex issue domains, like climate change. With a focus on the barriers to the use of scientific knowledge (cognitive influences, situational/organizational contexts, and the nature of scientific information), this project uses a survey of local, state, and regional-national agencies to examine the use of scientific information in climate change policy. This project presents a clearer picture of the conditions that aid an individual to overcome the barriers to the use of climate change information.

Projected energy and hydrological budgets over the Indus River Basin under a CORDEX-SA regional climate model framework

The Indus River is one of the largest transboundary rivers in Asia originating from Tibet autonomous region of China. This supplies water to the great plains of Punjab, significantly influencing agricultural productivity and shaping the socioeconomic conditions of the region's inhabitants. The present study investigates the potential impact of climate change on the water resources of the Indus River Basin (IRB). The study utilized the output from a regional climate model, REMO, to examine the projected change in energy and hydrological budget at 1.5, 2 specific warming levels and at the end of the century over IRB under three different representative concentration pathways (RCPs). The projected rise in the temperature from the historical period to the end of the century (both summer and winter) can be attributed to the increase in net downward energy flux compared to net upward energy flux. In the mid-century, the downward longwave radiation flux (sensible and latent heat flux) plays a dominant role in determining the surface energy balance during winter (summer). While, the combined impact of the energy components becomes more dominant at the end of the century for both seasons. Rainfall is projected to increase in the mountains of the upper Indus basin and gradually decline on the plains of the lower Indus basin till the end of the century. The projected decline in water storage over the plains of IRB can be attributed to the combination of declining rainfall and increasing evaporation. This will exert significant pressure on agriculture, industry and more importantly on the potable water supply. The IRB is found to be highly susceptible to climate extremes such as floods and drought. Climate change information is crucial for policy planners, governance, decision-makers, management authorities, etc. as it enables the implementation of better management practices, Additionally, it provides both short-term and long-term goals for a mitigation-based approach to reduce the impact of climate change.

The influence of board characteristics, ownership structure and public attention on climate change disclosure in banking sector companies

AbstractThis study aims to analyze the influence of board characteristics, ownership structure, and public attention on the disclosure of information related to climate change in the banking industry. This study uses panel data from financial reports and corporate sustainability in the banking sector. The data is processed using the Eviews application, using a sample of 348 companies from 2018 to 2021. The results show that the presence of women on the board, foreign board members, foreign ownership, and public attention all have a positive and significant effect influence. In contrast, board size and institutional ownership have a negative influence on the disclosure of climate change information by banking companies in different countries. Statistical tests also show that although the level of climate change information disclosure by banking companies is relatively good, there is still room for improvement to be in line with evolving standards. The study also looks at public attention through media coverage, as measured through Google Trends, which has the potential to impact climate change information disclosure, especially in sectors that are sensitive to the issue. Furthermore, the study conducted additional tests by categorizing the sample based on companies located in countries with high and medium rankings in the climate change performance index, as well as grouping them by region (Asia, Americas, and Europe). This research has important practical and theoretical contributions, advancing the understanding of the application of legitimacy and stakeholder theories to climate change and the factors that influence climate change disclosure strategies.

Quantifying effects of climate change and farmers' information demand on wheat yield in India: a deep learning approach with regional clustering

IntroductionWith increasing demand for food and changing environmental conditions, a better understanding of the factors impacting wheat yield is essential for ensuring food security and sustainable agriculture. By analyzing the effect of multiple factors on wheat yield, the presented research provides novel insights into the potential impacts of climate change on wheat production in India. In the present study, datasets consisting of countrywide environmental and agronomic factors and wheat yield were collected. In addition, the study also analyzes the effect of information demand of farmers on production.MethodologyThe study employs a regional analysis approach by dividing the country into five zonal clusters: Northern Hills, Central India, Indo-Gangetic Plains, North-Eastern India, and Peninsular India. Correlation and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were performed to uncover the month-wise key factors affecting wheat yield in each zone. Furthermore, four Machine Learning/Deep Learning-based models, including XGBoost, Multi-layer Perceptron (MLP), Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU), and 1-D Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), were developed to estimate wheat yield. This study estimated partial derivatives for all factors using Newton's Quotient Technique, a numerical method-based approach.ResultsThe analysis focused on applying this technique to the best-performing wheat yield estimation model, which was the GRU-based model (with RMSE and MAE of 0.60 t/ha and 0.46 t/ha, respectively).DiscussionIn the later sections of the article, multiple policy recommendations are communicated based on the extracted insights. The results of the presented research help inform decision-making regarding the development of strategies and policies to mitigate the impacts of climate change on wheat production in India.