Climate Change Information Research Articles

Understanding characteristics of forest professionals and small woodlot owners for communicating climate change adaptation

Forest stakeholders are a highly heterogeneous group with varied perceptions that are important to consider when engaging in dialog to increase climate change adaptation. We conducted an online survey of two forestry groups in Maine, U.S., classified as (1) forest professionals, and (2) small woodlot owners. We compared their climate change risk perceptions, socio-cultural influences, information sources, self-efficacy, barriers and incentives to adaptation, and management strategies. Small woodlot owners have much less knowledge of adaptation strategies, and greater perceived need for financial incentives, while forest professionals have higher social norms and more interest in market-based incentives. We found that both groups perceived climate change as a strong influencer on forest ecosystems, and that complexity of information was a key barrier to effective adaptation. The similarities that transcend forestry groups highlight several key perceptions of climate change that unify those working in diverse roles and positions. Implications for increasing implementation include framing communication messages to connect with specific audiences, such as discussing climate change in terms of forest health and wildlife concerns.

Potential of ‘future workshop’ method for educating adolescents about climate change mitigation and adaptation: a case from Freistadt, Upper Austria

Using the ‘future workshop’ (FW) method, adolescents can be prepared for responding to climate-related risks at the local level. The ‘KLAR! – Zukunftswerkstatt’ presents a case study combining climate change information, FW and place-attachment theories. Its development and application with 41 learners in one upper-secondary school in Austria are demonstrated. Statistically significant findings suggest that students are more aware about mitigation and adaptation behaviors after participating in FW. Qualitative findings demonstrate that students developed higher levels of action knowledge for mitigation and adaptation behaviors. Such teaching approach is not limited to the researched case, but supports environmental education in general.

Evaluating a Fit-for-Purpose Integrated Service Platform for Climate Change and Land Information of Rural Mountain Community

Climate change challenges rural mountain communities to adapt and reduce this vulnerability. They need a developed web-based information system that enables communities and people for preparing plans to reduce their impacts. The system provides a user interface that visualizes data collected from different data providers, integrating it with near real-time climate and weather datasets. It was tested for rural mountain communities particularly those in the Dolakha district of Nepal. The result illustrates system can provide information such as present land use status, near real-time rainfall and temperature details, and present adapted techniques that enable communities and its Stakeholders to formulate a plan for coping the climate change. Overall, the system aims to support simple and easy access, visualizations and querying of the information for the relevant stakeholders, individuals, and communities. This information can facilitate policymaker for improving and implementing community-based activities in rural mountain community.

Impact of climate change adaptation strategies on rice productivity in South-west, Nigeria: An endogeneity corrected stochastic frontier model

The study assessed the impact of climate change adaptation strategies on technical efficiency of smallholder rice farmers in South-west Nigeria. An endogeneity corrected stochastic frontier model which account for the endogeneity of adoption of adaptation strategies that is likely to depend on inefficiency was employed for the study. The result of the study revealed that adoption of adaption strategies is endogenously determined with rice productivity and hence, failure to account for endogeneity, the parameter efficiency estimates would be inconsistent. The empirical results from the model show that quantity of labour, herbicides and the interaction of labour with both farm size and insecticides were statistically significant in explaining the variations in the efficiency of rice production in the study area. In addition, the study identified the combined effects of climate change adaptation strategies and some socioeconomic characteristics such as age, gender, education, farming experience, access to credit, access to information, membership of farmers in agricultural based cooperative and location of rice farmers as sources of technical inefficiencies. The study concluded that increase implementation of climate change adaptation strategies could enhance rice productivity and technical efficiency of rice farmers through timely access to climate change information and other related institutional support. Based on farmers' knowledge and understanding of changes in climatic conditions and the adaptation strategies to mitigate its effect, it is therefore important for the government, stakeholders and donor agencies to involve farmers in the climate change adaptation planning process.

Information Sources and Constraints to Climate Change Adaptation amongst Smallholder Farmers in Amathole District Municipality, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

With current global climate change conditions, the urgency to provide agricultural knowledge on adaptation has risen. The dearth of climate change information is one amongst many agricultural production challenges faced by the majority of rural farming communities. This study aimed to identify smallholder farmers’ sources of climate change information and constraints to their coping and adaptation. Descriptive statistical tools, mean scores and the ‘problem confrontation index’ (PCI) were used to assess and describe the study’s findings. Analysis revealed that public extension services play a minute role in rural farmers’ climate change knowledge; they get their information elsewhere. The most critical constraint to climate change coping and adaptation in the study area was lack of access to agricultural extension services.

Trust and the Media: Perceptions of Climate Change News Sources Among US College Students

With increasing fake news and polarizing politics, Americans have been exposed to false or misinterpreted scientific information. A disconnect between the scientific community and news outlets has perpetuated public uncertainty about climate change. With the widening of such disconnect, it is crucial to understand how youth, who mainly use digital sources for information, comprehend climate change, as such a demographic will be a vehicle for climate change mitigation. We aim to understand climate change knowledge and attitudes among college students and their trustworthiness of six news outlets as sources of information about climate change. Results from a survey show that students care and are aware of climate change. Moreover, students are hesitant about news sources for climate change information. While students trust more the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, local news sources to the college, they overall neither trust nor distrust CNN, The Washington Post, Fox News, and Breitbart. This hesitation to trust or distrust such contrasting news regarding climate change may be explained by the overabundance of misinformation, the usage of cognitive heuristics, the rise of anti-intellectualism, and the lack of digital literacy, which make processing information more challenging in this postdigital era. We conclude by emphasizing the need to develop different information literacies in higher education. As digital platforms continue to grow, it is important to understand how youth receive and process information about topics like climate change in a complex information ecosystem.

Does Future Climate Bring Greater Streamflow Simulated by the HSPF Model to South Korea?

Evaluating the impact of climate change on water resources is necessary for improving water resource management and adaptation measures at the watershed level. This study evaluates the impact of climate change on streamflow in South Korea using downscaled climate change information based on the global climate model (GCM) and hydrological simulation program–FORTRAN model. Representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios 4.5 and 8.5 W/m2 were employed in this study. During the distant future (2071–2099), the flow increased by 15.11% and 24.40% for RCP scenarios 4.5 and 8.5 W/m2, respectively. The flow is highly dependent on precipitation and evapotranspiration. Both precipitation and evapotranspiration increased, but the relative change of precipitation was greater than the relative change of evapotranspiration. For this reason, the flow would show a significant increase. Additionally, for RCP 8.5 W/m2, the variability of the flow according to the GCM also increased because the variability of precipitation increased. Moreover, for RCP 8.5 W/m2, the summer and autumn flow increased significantly, and the winter flow decreased in both scenarios. The variability in autumn and winter was so great that the occurrence of extreme flow could intensify further. These projections indicated the possibility of future flooding and drought in summer and winter. Regionally, the flow was expected to show a significant increase in the southeastern region. The findings presented for South Korea could be used as primary data in establishing national climate change adaptation measures.

Determinants of Relevant Constraints Inhibiting Farmers’ Adoption of Climate Change Adaptation Strategies in South Africa

The adverse effects of climate change on agricultural productivity are on the increase. This study employed both descriptive statistics and the multivariate probit model to estimate factors constraining the adoption of climate change adaptation strategies among smallholder farmers in the study area. The empirical results of the multivariate probit model showed that a lack of knowledge of climate change constraints was influenced by smallholder farmers’ age, gender, off-farm activity, susceptibility and membership in farmer-based organizations. Thus, to improve the adaptive capacity of farmers, government and development partners should work together to improve the conditions under which farmers can gain access to climate change information and suitable agricultural credit as well as policy incentives aimed at lowering the stringent conditions of borrowing in the agricultural sector.

Capability Competence of Agricultural Extension Staff for Helping Rural Farming Communities Adapt/Mitigate to Climate Change Variability in Imo State, Nigeria

The study examined the capability of extension staffs of Imo ADP (Agricultural Development Programme) in helping rural farmers adapt/mitigate to climate change variability in agriculture. The specific objectives were to identify extension capability indicators of the staff; ascertain climate change awareness of the staff; examine the adaptation strategies promoted by extension staff; and identify perceived climate change capability competence of extension staff. One hundred and twenty extension staff of the Imo ADP was purposively selected and questionnaire administered to them. Percentage and mean were used to analyse the data. The findings reveal that the Imo ADP had more middle level personnel and few Subject Matter Specialists (SMS) with a low extension agent farmer ratio of 1:5947, with few bicycle and motorcycles. The staffs were aware of climate change menace through several sources with 91.7% receiving training on climate change. Extension workers promoted adaptation strategies like conservation agriculture (M=2.54), use of improved crop varieties (M=2.61), awareness campaigns (M=2.70), use of indigenous plants (M=2.81). The capability competence included having a good understanding of climate change (M=2.64), help others obtain credible climate change information (M=2.56) and ability to identify climate change impacts (M=2.63). It is recommended that more extension staff be engaged to reduce the low extension farmer ratio, train staff regularly on climate change issues to prepare them to address rural farmer climate information problems.

Analysis of Ultramafic Rocks Weathering Level in Konawe Regency, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia Using the Magnetic Susceptibility Parameter

The Konawe region is part of the Sulawesi Southeast Arm ophiolite belt where ultramafic rocks are exposed in the form of dunite and peridotite. The formation of nickel deposits is closely related to the weathering process of ultramafic rocks as a source rock. Ultramafic rocks exposed to the surface will experience weathering which is influenced by many factors, including in the form of climate change, topography, and existing geological structures.
 The weathering process in the source rock can influence variations in chemical elements and magnetic properties in laterite soil profiles. For example, the chemical weathering might affect magnetic mineralogy and the physical weathering could affect granulometry as well as the quantity of magnetic minerals in the soil. Condition of weathering of ultramafic rocks (initial, moderate and advanced) can affect nickel content in laterite sediments. The weathering profile study of serpentine mineral is an indication of the lateralization process that occurs in ultramafic rocks and is carried out through petrographic analysis of thin cuts and polish cuts. Determination of weathering level like this is based on the level of weathering of the mineral serpentine.
 In this study, the determination of the weathering level of ultramafic rocks (initial, moderate, and continued) uses magnetic susceptibility parameter. A total of 232 ultramafic rock core samples obtained from 34 hand samples were taken from different places and weathered levels were analyzed. The results of the research have shown that the magnetic susceptibility of ultramafic rocks in the study area varies, from 580 x 10-6 SI to 4.724 x 10-6 SI. Based on the value of magnetic susceptibility, magnetic minerals contained in ultramafic rock samples are hematite and geotite minerals. This means that the weathering level of ultramafic rock samples is the continued weathering level. The level of continued weathering that occurs in ultramafic rocks in the study area produces nickel laterite deposits with a nickel content of 1.65 - 2.40% in the saprolite zone, 0.42% in the saprock zone, and 0.20 - 0.51% in the basic rock zone (bedrock).

Advancing capacity to adapt to climate change: addressing information needs in the Australian property industry

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand the sources of climate change information used and trusted by key stakeholders in the Australian property industry, their information needs and their capacity to translate that information into decision-making.Design/methodology/approachQualitative research applying in-depth interviews with 24 key stakeholders from a diverse range of property/real estate companies in Australia.FindingsThis research identified a wide range of information types used by key stakeholders, ranging from reliance on unsophisticated mass media reporting to detailed analysis of scientific research. The capacity of stakeholders to translate this information for their organisation was polarised; 11 of the 24 interviewees indicated they had the capacity, while the other 13 indicated they did not, often owing to time horizons or lack of current interest within the organisation or from clients.Research limitations/implicationsThis research was limited to 24 in-depth interviews and is not intended to be a representative sample. However, this limitation is offset by the fact that a diverse range of stakeholders were interviewed and an in-depth and rich understanding has been provided about their approach to climate change.Practical implicationsThe results can inform the development of better communication channels for climate change for the property industry by supporting science-practice collaborations in the timely and effective dissemination of research. This is important to understand given the identified need to bridge the gap among research, policy and practice.Social implicationsClimate change poses significant challenges and risks for built environments. The property industry, as a key stakeholder, has great potential to influence current practices. The results reported here assist in addressing these challenges.Originality/valueAt present, limited research globally has been conducted about climate change actions in the property industry. This research responds to this gap.

Understanding the adoption of climate change adaptation strategies among smallholder farmers: Evidence from land reform beneficiaries in South Africa

Climatic change has a negative impact on people’s livelihoods, agriculture, freshwater supply and other natural resources that are important for human survival. Therefore, understanding how rural smallholder farmers perceive climate change, climate variability, and factors that influence their choices would facilitate a better understanding of how these farmers adapt to the negative impacts of climate change. A Zero-inflated double hurdle model was employed to estimate the factors influencing farmers’ adoption of adaptation strategies and intensity of adoption at the household level in South Africa. Different socioeconomic factors such as gender, age, and experience in crop farming, institutional factors like access to extension services, and access to climate change information significantly influenced the adoption of climate change adaptation strategies among beneficiaries of land reform in South Africa. Concerning intensity of adoption, age, educational level, farming experience, on-farm training, off-farm income, access to information through ICT and locational variables are the significant determinants of intensity of adaptation strategies. Thus, education attainment, non-farm employment, farming experience are significant incentives to enhance smallholder farmers' adaptive capacity through the adoption of many adaptation approaches. This study therefore concluded that farm-level policy efforts that aim to improve rural development should focus on farmers’ education, on-farm demonstration and non-farm employment opportunities that seek to engage the farmers, particularly during the off-cropping season. The income from non-farm employment can be plough-back into farm operations such as the adoption of soil and water conservation, use of improved planting varieties, insurance, among others to mitigate climate variability and subsequently increase productivity. Policies and investment strategies of the government should be geared towards supporting education, providing on-farm demonstration trainings, and disseminating information about climate change adaptation strategies, particularly for smallholder farmers in the country. Thus, the government, stakeholders, and donor agencies must provide capacity-building innovations around the agricultural extension system and education on climate change using information and communication technologies.

Dissemination of Information About Climate Change by State and Local Public Health Departments: United States, 2019-2020.

Objectives. To determine if and how state and local public health departments present information about climate change on their Web sites, their most public-facing platform.Methods. We collected data from every functioning state (n = 50), county (n = 2090), and city (n = 585) public health department Web site in the United States in 2019 and 2020. We analyzed data for presence and type of climate-related content and to determine whether there existed clear ways to find climate change information. We analyzed Web sites providing original content about climate change for explanatory or attributional language.Results. Fewer than half (40%) of state health department Web sites, and only 1.6% of county and 3.9% of city Web sites, provided clear ways to find climate change information, whether through provision of original content or links to external agencies' Web sites. Among Web sites providing original content, 48% provided no explanation of climate change causes.Conclusions. National and global public health associations have identified climate change as a public health emergency, but most state and local public health departments are not delivering that message. These departments must be better supported to facilitate dissemination of reliable, scientific information about climate change and its effects on health.

Climate change communication and public engagement in interpersonal deliberative settings: evidence from the Irish citizens’ assembly

ABSTRACT Citizens are being increasingly called upon to participate in climate change policymaking. Citizen assemblies have been proposed as a viable and effective way of boosting public support for ambitious climate policies. This study examines the varying effects of climate change communication on citizen support for the speaker’s policy proposals, in the framework of the most consequential citizen-centred experimentation in environmental policymaking to date – the Irish Citizens’ Assembly. Drawing on the six-principle framework for authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we test whether effective communication contributes to explaining outcomes of deliberation on climate change. Methodologically, we take a set-theoretic approach, using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to operationalise conditions and analyse the data. Our findings show that effective communication does explain why certain policy proposals were adopted by the Irish Citizens’ Assembly over others, in conjunction with other conditions, such as having a high proportion of proposals being repeated by other speakers. Key policy insights Citizen assemblies and other deliberative fora can boost public support and provide legitimacy for ambitious climate policy. The information presented to participants in such fora has an effect upon engagement with, and support for, policy proposals. It is not climate change information per se, but how it is communicated that matters for participants’ uptake of ambitious climate measures. Speakers who communicate effectively see greater uptake of their policy proposals. Differences exist in the paths to success for expert and non-expert speakers. While the former were successful when they presented a high number of proposals, the latter were successful when they presented a simple, unique message. Organisers of citizens’ assemblies should encourage the participation of such non-expert speakers who can connect with audiences on ‘real-life’ climate action.

Visualizing climate change: an exploratory study of the effectiveness of artistic information visualizations

Artists creatively use scientific data in artistic information visualizations (AIVs) to address climate change. Yet, it is unclear how effective they are in making viewers consider climate change as important. To assess their reception, this research studies and compares AIVs in relation to four additional visual forms, which are common in the communication of climate change (information visualizations, news photos, digital art visuals and cartoons). Qualitative research consisting of a short survey, q-sort and semi-structured interviews was employed. Some AIVs were judged clearer and more agreed with than other AIVs, suggesting that a less abstract AIV style might be more suitable. In comparison to the other visual forms, the artistic information visualizations were the least effective in making viewers consider climate change as important. It appears that artists’ free choice of data focus and artistic styles faces limits when depicting a complex topic such as climate change. A need for clarity or accompanying descriptions to the visualizations, at least when targeted at the general public without art training, might be necessary. The study did not show distrust in art’s involvement in the climate change discourse.

The Effects of Establishing Intimacy and Consubstantiality on Group Discussions About Climate Change Solutions

The many obstacles to productive climate change communication necessitate new approaches. Based on science communication strategies that promote engagement rather than knowledge transfer, we assigned participants ( N = 329) to randomized chat groups that discussed similarities between group members (intimacy condition) or information about climate change (information condition). This study combined Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) and rhetorical analysis and found that groups in the intimacy condition were more likely to exhibit commonality than groups in the information condition. This study offers practical strategies for having productive discussions on controversial scientific topics such as climate change.

A new composite climate change vulnerability index

Abstract The earth’s climate is changing, with global warming attributable to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions driven by economic and population growth. Human systems and ecosystems vary in their exposure, mitigation and adaptive capacity, and vulnerability to various forms of climate change. Once mitigation and adaptation efforts have been exhausted, vulnerability remains. Data compiled by the University of Notre Dame covering over 100 nations in 2016 were used to construct a new composite climate change vulnerability index that features endogenously generated weights to aggregate vulnerability indices across six vulnerable sectors. These weights have the potential to inform policy aimed at allocating resources to reduce the cost of limiting vulnerability. The new composite vulnerability index, whose weights differ across sectors and across nations, is compared with the Notre Dame vulnerability index, which uses weights equal across sectors and constant across nations. Although the two indices agree on the identity of the most vulnerable nations, there is a statistically significant difference between the two indices. In addition, a nonparametric statistical test failed to reject the null hypothesis that one sectoral index could be deleted from the composite index without significant loss of information. This also has potentially important policy implications.

The Ontario Climate Data Portal, a user-friendly portal of Ontario-specific climate projections

An easily accessible climate data portal, http://yorku.ca/ocdp, was developed and officially launched in 2018 to disseminate a super ensemble of high-resolution regional climate change projections for the province of Ontario, Canada. The spatial resolution is ~10 km × ~10 km and temporal resolution is one day, UTC. The data covers 120 years from 1981 to 2100. This user-friendly portal provides users with thousands of static and interactive maps, decadal variation trend lines, summary tables, reports and terabytes of bias-corrected downscaled data. The data portal was generated with an emphasis on interactive visualization of climate change information for researchers and the public to understand to what extent climate could change locally under different emission scenarios in the future. This paper presents an introduction to the portal structure and functions, the large extent of the datasets available and the data development methodology.

Improving GM Consensus Acceptance Through Reduced Reactance and Climate Change-based Message Targeting

ABSTRACT Public understanding of and support for GM foods in the U.S. are generally low and out of step with the scientific community, and particularly among those who identify as environmentalists. In order to communicate the scientific consensus on GM foods to these audiences, messages may need to be tailored to reduce reactance. We employ a messaging experiment that tests the potential for first-person narratives to link acceptance of the scientific evidence on climate change to the scientific evidence on GM foods among individuals high in environmental concern. Our study found that such messages were generally more effective than non-narrative messages or narrative messages without climate change information, and they were especially effective at conveying scientific consensus and influencing personal views on GM foods among those who identify as environmentalists, through reduced reactance. The results offer modest evidence of a theoretically driven, practical technique for communicating scientific consensus about GM foods in a way that can help reduce reactance in people who are especially likely to oppose GM foods.

When salient science is not enough to advance climate change adaptation: Lessons from Brazil and Australia

Increased social and environmental vulnerability to extreme climatic events and inherent aggravation of environmental and social problems has placed climate change adaptation as an urgent challenge for decision-makers. Understanding and using climate change information to advance the implementation of climate-friendly policies further compounds this challenge. A rich scholarly literature focusing on climate change adaptation endorses that investing in mechanisms that narrow the gap between climate change information production and its use is crucial to increase adaptive capacity. Based on this assumption, this paper investigates the extent to which two collaborative projects that functioned as boundary organisations in Brazil (CiAdapta project) and Australia (Climate Change Adaptation for Natural Resource Management in East Coast Australia) increased access to information, and enabled the continual and continuous usefulness of produced knowledge for climate change adaptation. Considering the distinction between usable and useful information, we applied six criteria to guide the data analysis and extract key lessons from each project. Our findings confirm that face-to-face interactions are more likely to result in research having the societal impact that is being increasingly required by research and funding bodies. Our findings also indicate that two key systemic changes are critical for the long-term influence of boundary organisations for advancing climate change adaptation. These include changes to the science, knowledge production process; and shift in the political culture.