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70
Int. J. Global Warming, Vol. 8, No. 1, 2015
The effectiveness of climate change communication
and information dissemination via the internet:
experiences from the online climate conference
series
Walter Leal Filho* and Franziska Mannke
Research and Transfer Centre ‘Applications of Life Sciences’,
Hamburg University of Applied Sciences,
Lohbrügger Kirchstr. 65, D-21033 Hamburg, Germany
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
*Corresponding author
Evangelos Manolas
Department of Forestry and Management of the
Environment and Natural Resources,
Democritus University of Thrace,
193 Pantazidou Street, 68200 Orestiada, Greece
Email: [email protected]
Abul Quasem Al-Amin
International Business School,
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia,
Jalan Iman, 81300 Skudai,
Johor Bahru, Malaysia
and
Faculty of Economics and Administration,
University of Malaya,
50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Email: [email protected]
Abstract: Despite the importance of and the need for using internet-based
approaches to promote information and raise awareness on climate change,
there is a paucity of initiatives which may foster this cause on a long-term
basis. This article presents the concept, approaches, methods, experiences and
results from an online climate change conference series led by the Hamburg
University of Applied Sciences (HAW Hamburg), which, since its inception in
2008, has engaged over one million participants in over 150 countries.
Covering a wide range of topics including water use, disasters management,
and technologies, the online climate change conferences provide useful insights
on matters which may be considered, in ensuring climate change can be
successfully communicated via online tools.
Copyright © 2015 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
The effectiveness of climate change communication
Keywords: communication;
dissemination.
climate
change;
internet;
71
information;
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Leal Filho, W.,
Mannke, F., Manolas, E. and Al-Amin, A.Q. (2015) ‘The effectiveness of
climate change communication and information dissemination via the internet:
experiences from the online climate conference series’, Int. J. Global Warming,
Vol. 8, No. 1, pp.70–85.
Biographical notes: Walter Leal Filho is a Senior Professor at Hamburg
University of Applied Sciences (Germany) and Chair of Environment and
Technology at Manchester Metropolitan University (UK), where he undertakes
research on sustainable development and climate change.
Franziska Mannke is Researcher and PhD student on climate change at the
Hamburg University of Applied Sciences.
Evangelos Manolas is an Associate Professor at the Department of Forestry and
Management of the Environment and Natural Resources at the Democritus
University of Thrace, in Greece.
Abul Quasem Al-Amin is an Assistant Professor at Department of
Development Studies, University of Malaya where he conducts research on
climate change and economic development.
1
Introduction
Due to its importance and scope, climate change is probably one of the most important
challenges of modern times. Both developed and developing countries are actively
seeking ways to better understand and cope with the problem and issue (Ahmed et al.,
2012; Al-Amin and Leal Filho, 2012). However, the complexity of this issue means that
it is difficult to communicate and to fully foster an understanding of what climate change
may mean to various sectors of society (Leal Filho, 2009).
In a recent workshop meeting on climate change education, Thomas Bowman pointed
out that “the goals of climate change education can be expressed as a continuum from
climate literacy (or understanding how and why climate change is occurring) at one end
to social change that will reduce societal impacts on the climate at the opposite end, with
stewardship somewhere in between. At a more fine-grained scale, the goals of climate
change communication and education include improving understanding of climate-related
issues (e.g., climate systems, climate change, and the impacts of climate change), raising
awareness of the potential strategies for limiting the impacts of climate change,
encouraging specific action to minimise human impacts and adapt to the changing
climate, and helping individuals and groups to make climate-friendly choices” (Forrest
and Feder, 2011).
The nature of the problem of global climate change makes it necessary that effective
climate change education and communication should deal with the issue in an
interdisciplinary manner, involving social, psychological, political, and economic aspects
with the scientific aspects of climate change (Gardner and Stern, 2008; Leiserowitz and
Smith, 2010). In addition, stabilising the planet’s climate will only become possible
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through a combination of large-scale government efforts and international cooperation as
well as major changes in individual and collective attitudes and behaviours (Leiserowitz,
2007). Although governments are important in establishing priorities and in promoting
and applying policies (Moser, 2006), education and communication efforts are also
important in empowering individuals to engage in actions at all levels, i.e., individual,
social and political, in order to successfully deal with the problems posed by global
climate change (Gaillard and Ferreira, 2009).
The above issues have also risen in the past, especially in the 1990s, although at that
time this was done more in the context of environmental rather than climate change
education. For example, Fien (1993) has said that effective education and communication
must aim at changing not only individual values or lifestyles, but also structures. In
addition, Clover et al. (1998) have pointed out that climate change is a multi-dimensional
problem and therefore, education and communication efforts should aim at both
individual change as well as achieving collective social transformation.
In the above context, Gaillard and Ferreira (2009) point out that education and
communication efforts should empower for individual change within a collective
framework for four reasons:
•
firstly, individuals may be willing to act in an environmentally friendly manner, but
they may be limited by external barriers, e.g., public transport or bicycle lanes are a
pre-requisite if individuals are to be encouraged not to drive (Moser, 2006; Tribbia,
2007)
•
secondly, people are influenced by factors such as the social environment they live in
(Rogers, 2003), e.g., reluctance from others to act might discourage individuals to
take action (Lorenzoni et al., 2007)
•
thirdly, people are influenced by internal factors such lack of incentives or lack of
confidence that they can make a difference or even sense of isolation (Kollmuss and
Agueman, 2002)
•
fourthly, effective solutions for problems caused by climate change should deal with
dysfunctional practices in the wider social, economic and political systems
(Harris, 2007)
In reviewing the literature on climate change communication, Russil and Nyssa (2009)
outline two main research traditions.
The first tradition investigates the connection between scientific knowledge, media,
and public understanding of climate change and emphasises a ‘gap’ between scientific
and media representations of climate change. The point here is that the difficulty in
communication between scientists and journalists produces divergent representations of
the problem and that this ‘gap’ does not allow the public to learn and appreciate the
importance of the problem. The studies most often used to establish this conclusion are
those by Oreskes (2004), which analysed a sample of abstracts from 1993 to 2003 to
prove there is scientific consensus with regard to anthropogenic climate and by Boykoff
and Boykoff (2004) which conducted a content analysis of major US newspapers to
decide how well news represented this claim.
According to a second tradition, the lack of information is not the main problem but
rather how such information is disseminated to different audiences in different contexts
(Moser and Dilling, 2007) and to acknowledge the importance of culture (Hulme, 2008;
The effectiveness of climate change communication
73
Pettenger, 2007). Of much interest is how problem formulations create or dampen
opportunities for social change. Of particular importance here is Skodvin’s (2000) work
on ‘problem diagnosis’ which shows how facts and values intermingle in the
co-constitution of problem statements and solution paths and Ungar’s work on how
problem diagnoses are expressed in terms of marketability or framing and, in particular,
his work on the concepts of ‘issue culture’ and ‘bridging metaphors’ (Ungar, 2007) as
well as his conception of a ‘hot crisis’ (Ungar, 1998). Williams (2000) argues that climate
change must be treated in terms of ‘packageable solutions’ in order to earn the attention
of the media as well as avoid successful counter-claims by climate sceptics.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in one of its most recent
publications (Headline Statements from the Summary for Policymakers, 2013) discusses
developments regarding global climate change and states that human influence on the
climate system is clear. This is concluded from the increasing greenhouse gas
concentrations in the atmosphere, positive radiative forcing, observed warming, and
understanding of the climate system. Dealing effectively with climate change constitutes
a major challenge. Although there is some uncertainty regarding applicable solutions,
nevertheless, the fragmented nature of human activities created gaps and how these gaps
will be filled is a very urgent task. The growth of favourable attitudes and effective
communication among people can lead to changes in behaviour which is a most
important factor in addressing climate issues. The online climate conference series, which
started in 2008 and organised every year since then, constitute an effective means of
communication for disseminating important information on climate change. This, in turn,
may contribute to creating positive attitudes as well as building appropriate behaviours
with regard to climate change matters1.
The promotion of information on climate change and the dissemination of climate
change information is therefore today more important than ever, in order to raise
awareness about this topic over and beyond specialist audiences. One of the ways to
achieve this objective and fundamental goal is through organising online climate change
conferences which is a most effective method of disseminating information.
Consequently, the specific objective and fundamental goal is:
a
to see the significance of climate change communication and information
dissemination via the internet
b
to see how insights on climatic problems may be communicated more effectively via
online climate conference series
2
The detail outlines to raise awareness: online climate change conference
series
The idea to organise and run an online climate conference was originated from the 13th
Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, which took place in Bali,
Indonesia, in December 2007. Prof. Walter Leal, the initiator of the online conference
series, was disappointed to see over 10,000 delegates travelling to Indonesia to attend a
climate conference, generating tons of CO2 in the process. He thought that much could be
gained by having a climate conference where communication on matters related to
climate change could take place on the one hand, but where no travel would be needed,
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on the other. This could be achieved by using the widely internet technology which is
already widely available today. It was on that basis that the online climate conference
series was conceived.
The conferences (CLIMATE series) have been organised in a way that delegates have
a unique opportunity to look at technological developments in the field of climate change,
not only under a scientific perspective, but also with a due emphasis to social, political
and economic elements that pertain the climate debate. Consistent with this approach,
since its beginning in 2008, a theme has been chosen as a focus each year. These were as
follows:
•
CLIMATE 2008 – Interdisciplinary Aspects of Climate Change
•
CLIMATE 2009 – The Economic, Social and Political Aspects of Climate Change
•
CLIMATE 2010 – Climate Change and the Sustainable Use of Water Resources
•
CLIMATE 2011 – Climate Change and Disasters Risk Management
•
CLIMATE 2012 – Climate Change, Sustainable Technologies and Small Island
States
•
CLIMATE 2013 – Climate Change in Latin America.
In order to ensure the scientific quality of the inputs, all articles submitted to the online
conferences are peer-reviewed. In addition, knowledge and experiences from each event
are documented, as books, published as part of the Climate Change Management Series
(Leal Filho and Mannke, 2009; Leal Filho, 2011, 2012, 2013; Leal Filho et al., 2013).
Moreover, the online climate conference series was also meant to pay a special emphasis
to research linking climate change with one or more of the millennium development
goals (MDG) categories, namely:
1
poverty and hunger
2
universal primary education
3
gender equality and women’s empowerment
4
child mortality
5
maternal health
6
HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
The online climate conference series also emphasised environmental sustainability. All
along, the internet platform was meant to offer a wide basis upon which climate change
communication could take place and all interested stakeholders could interact.
The fact that the conferences are 100% virtual, means that no travel costs (often a
major barrier to the attendance of participants from the developing world to international
events) and no unnecessary, CO2 emissions are produced. To allow users from all over
the world to access extraordinary knowledge pool of information and expertise, the
participation has always been voluntary, open and free of any charges. In particular,
climate change related information dissemination and impact or vulnerability, are factors
which in developing countries need to be taken much more seriously since these
countries, as a result of their limited resources, capacity and ability to offset climatic
impacts, are much more vulnerable to climate change than developed countries. Hence, e-
The effectiveness of climate change communication
75
conferences allow delegates from developing countries to access recent and new
knowledge on interdisciplinary aspects of climate change, what might happen in the
future, sustainable technologies, green growth, low-carbon issues, green technologies,
disasters risk management, sustainable use of water resources, and thus participate in the
global climate change debate at no cost. E-conferences can quickly attract large amounts
of information and new knowledge as well as build social networks with comparatively
little effort. Participation in e-conferences requires no physical travel and information is
disseminated via the internet technology which is today widely available all over the
world including remote developing counties.
Special interactive features such as discussion fora, virtual blackboards for project
and partner search, expert live chats and video podcasts have been available throughout
the conferences, complemented by information on climate project financing. In addition
to the scientific papers per se, a designated discussion section offers participants each
year the opportunity to interact with the authors, and have first-hand insights into the
latest research and project findings on matters related to climate change. While many
participants have mainly used the online climate conference series for information
purposes, direct scientific exchanges and cooperation possibilities for joint activities and
projects between the participants has been encouraged.
The aims of the events organised as part of the online climate change conference
series, have been as follows:
•
to introduce the latest findings from scientific research on climate variation, climate
change and its links with themes such as water use, disasters management or
renewable energy
•
to communicate and showcase projects, technological developments, products, best
practice and other replicable experiences, based on initiatives being undertaken by
companies, universities and scientific institutions, government bodies, national and
international agencies, NGOs and other stakeholders
•
to communicate and discuss current and future challenges, so as to identify new
opportunities and highlight the unseized potential related to promoting a better
understanding of the connections between climate variation and climate change,
worldwide.
Last but not least, the online climate conferences in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and
2013 have allowed participants to network with just a few mouse-clicks, thus catalysing
knowledge transfer and new cooperation, across the globe. The online climate conference
series have been organised under the auspices of the ‘International Climate Change
Information Programme’, created by HAW Hamburg in 2008, whose aim is to
disseminate findings from scientific research on climate change (including elements
related to its environmental, social, economic and policy aspects) in a way that allows
them to be understood by the non-specialist audience. This takes place by means of
books, book chapters, journal articles and information via the media. ICCIP is also meant
to network people and organisations, so as to allow them to discuss the problems,
barriers, challenges and chances and potentials related to communication on climate
change.
Based on the fact that current internet technologies can provide a substantial
contribution in terms of disseminating information and the latest scientific findings on
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climate change research in a fast and efficient way, the ‘International Climate Change
Information Programme’ has been especially active in the drive to help to meet the
demand for climate-friendly and climate-neutral events.
As far as the target groups are concerned, the online climate conferences have been
of special interest and use to:
•
young scientists as well as established researchers who conduct research and studies
on aspects related to climate change;
•
multilateral donors and international aid organisations
•
NGOs and social institutions concerned with climate change
•
companies working on technological products and innovation in the climate sector
•
associations and businesses, in particular from the finance and the insurance sector
•
government institutions (environment ministries, planning committees etc.)
•
other stakeholders whose activities are influenced by climate change.
Consistent with the need to be neutral, the conference series has kept a distance from any
personal appeals. Rather, they have focused on the sober presentation of climate change
information, in a neutral way, an approach supported by specialist publications such as
the guide The Psychology of Climate Change Communication, published by the Center
for Research on Environmental Decisions at Columbia University (CRED, 2009).
The e-conferences have over the years provided valuable information and know-how
for regional, national and international climate change and planning experts, as well as to
all those interested in the connections between climate change and climate-smart
technologies. In order to assist with the training of a new generation of scientists, the
participation of doctoral students has always been warmly encouraged.
Since its inception in 2008, the online climate conference series has established many
partnerships. The following institutions have been acting as partners:
•
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
•
World Meteorological Organisation (WMO)
•
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
•
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
•
Prince Albert Foundation
•
International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
•
SIDS.net
•
Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)
•
Sahel and Sahara Observatory (IOSS)
•
Ecological Society for Eastern Africa (ESEA)
In addition to being an internet event with no unnecessary CO2 emissions, the online
climate conference series has been supporting the post-Copenhagen processes, by
providing a basis upon which comprehensive and extensive discussions on crucial issues
The effectiveness of climate change communication
77
relating to future commitments, actions and cooperation on climate change can be built.
The thematic focus of the conferences not only allows the dissemination of research
projects and good practice, but also caters for in-depth discussions. In doing so, it
supports the search for global and regional solutions for the many impacts climate
change have on people and ecosystems, and addresses the need to promote sustainable
development across the world.
3
Results to date
Here the results achieved each year, with themes and numbers of people involved are
described, along with some statistics of usage. Much of this information is available from
the reports produced each year, from 2008 to 2013. In 2008, the first conference pilot
went live. With a rather broadly designed theme, i.e., ‘Interdisciplinary Aspects of
Climate Change’, the online conference managed to attract e-delegates from 162 of a
total of 193 countries worldwide. All in all, more than 2,300 registered participants
attended this first e-conference. Featuring 87 peer-reviewed articles in its first year, the
delegates could interactively and directly discuss online the research, with the authors as
well as fellow delegates. Moreover, every day the conference program also included
expert live chats with worldwide panellists, e.g. experts from ICIMOD Nepal, from the
European Environmental Agency in Denmark, from GIZ in Germany and many more.
In 2009, the follow-up conference managed to attract even greater interest: focusing
on the topic ‘The Economic, Social and Political Aspects of Climate Change’, more than
103 articles were reviewed and published online. All relevant indicators, i.e. number of
articles, page views, sessions, discussions, and registered participants, improved
significantly which may be related to extraordinary good media coverage on TV, the
internet, radio and the print media. In this year, almost 2,700 registered users from
147 countries were recorded. As new features, a best paper award was introduced. As in
the previous year, the e-conference included real-time expert live that’s, in 2009 on
themes such as universities and climate change, electric mobility, adaptation funding,
strengthening of adaptive capacity and impacts of climate change in the arctic.
In 2010, the third worldwide online climate conference focused on a much narrower
topic: ‘Climate Change and the Sustainable Use of Water Resources’. As climate change
is a very broad topic, and based on participant feedback, the organisers chose a more
focused approach in this year. This was reflected in a smaller number of scientific papers,
i.e., only 80 were published on the platform in 2010. Interestingly, the number of
participants grew by 6% compared to the previous year, yet it was observed by the
organisers that the quality of expert discussions and interaction with between authors and
delegates increased. All in all, the conference recorded 2,852 registered delegates from
129 countries. The interactive chat program included real-time live chats as well as
dedicated Q+A sessions where delegates could direct their questions to experts from the
field as well as from donor agencies, e.g., ICIMOD, GIZ, ICLEI, Global Water
Partnership or the UNISDR.
Following the content strategy of the previous year, the fourth e-conference in 2011
concentrated on an even more specific theme related to impacts of climate variability and
climate change in particular: 50 papers present latest research from the domain of
‘Climate Change and Disasters Risk Management’. The number of users decreased to
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1,746 which suggest that the conference theme might have been rather a niche theme.
However, the topic was indeed of even more worldwide interest as delegates came from
152 countries in that year. Due to the success of the previous year, the combination of
real-time live chats and Q+A sessions continued in 2011. Experts involved in European
projects, for example the SKINT project, or from the Institute of Development Studies
(IDS), provided insights into their recent work, moreover, practitioners from the field
could voice their experiences, e.g. GIZ DRR and Recovery Advisory or the DHL GoHelp
initiative.
In 2012, the character of the e-conference became twofold, on the one hand it had a
geographical focus on Small Island Developing States, and on the other hand it had a
thematic focus on sustainable technologies. 48 papers from researchers in Small Island
Developing States, but also mainland researchers contributed to this conference dealing
with ‘Climate Change, Sustainable Technologies and Small Island States’. Not
surprisingly, the number of participants decreased compared to the previous year, down
to 1,378, with delegates logging on from 127 countries. The live chats and Q+A sessions
featured small island development work experts, often locals, from e.g., the Many Strong
Voices (MSV) Programme, the EU project DIREKT, the Indian Ocean Commission and
its ACCLIMATE project and the Caribbean Renewable Energy Development Programme
(CREDP/GIZ). The donor perspective was elaborated by IDRC, with further
contributions from networks such as CARICOM.
Figure 1
Statistics regarding visits from 176 countries (top 17 countries) (see online version
for colours)
In order to keep a critical mass of users, the organisers decided to widen the scope of the
thematic focus in the following year, yet they stick to focusing on a distinctive
geographical region: In 2013, CLIMATE features ‘Climate Change in Latin America’.
Another novelty of the 2013 e-conference was the fact that, for the first time, the
conference was held in two languages: English and Spanish, in order to cater better for
the needs of the Latin American speaking world. This feature has proved most useful,
The effectiveness of climate change communication
79
since communication could take place in the native language of most Latin American
countries, which were able to participate even more intensively than in an English-only
event.
Figure 1 shows global statistics regarding visits from 176 countries (top 17 countries).
The online climate conference series offer their participants access to new knowledge,
provide them with information about networks and new technologies. They also promote
cooperation among participants. All that is needed is just a few mouse-clicks. Due to the
nature of the medium, and combined with good marketing and dissemination via the
internet and social networks, online conferences can quickly manage to attract a large
volume of internet users with comparable little effort.
Participants could access the e-conference from their offices, schools and universities
or from home, without causing further climate burdens. Figure 2 highlights the
worldwide outreach of the CLIMATE series by visualising where registered delegates are
located. By means of a distinctive peer-reviewed set of scientific papers, participants
were invited to join the debate or directly ask questions to authors and to selected experts
in real-time live chats.
Figure 2
Visualisation of 2012 worldwide outreach of the online conference ‘Climate Change,
Sustainable Technologies and Small Island States’ (see online version for colours)
Source: Google Analytics; CLIMATE 2012 Results Report
In addition, a set of climate videos illustrated the consequences of climate change and
promoted best practices in coping with climate change and related challenges. A specific
section of the conference sites presented climate projects from all around the world and
potential funding sources, whereas virtual blackboards helped attendees to find new
partners and projects. It needs to be noted that whenever delegates wanted to interact with
fellow participants, authors or the expert live chat panel, they needed to register only
(Figure 3).
The number of participants in the online climate conference series is always much
higher, because of the fact that the monitoring system only tracks the registered
delegates. Since users could participate and access the content (but not interact) without
being registered, the figures are probably much higher. Figure 4 illustrates the evolution
of online registrations over the past five years of the e-conference series. Even though a
noticeable decrease in numbers of registered delegates is seen, this is partly because
many people do not formally register. This means that many users are happy to download
the information and use the conference as an information source, but do not make the
effort to register.
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Figure 3
E-conference and its linkage with regard to the effectiveness of climate change
communication and information dissemination via the internet
Figure 4
Registered users of the CLIMATE series, 2008–2012 (see online version for colours)
There is an extensive literature on communication as means of information dissemination
on climate change (Howell, 2014; Meijnders et al., 2001; Ereaut and Segnit, 2006;
Futerra, 2005). Also, other related literature discusses reorienting climate change
communication for effective mitigation (e.g., Leal Filho, 2009), indicate how to
encourage people to adopt greener behaviours, or which show how individual attitudes
and behaviour should change (Howell, 2011; Beattie et al., 2011; Ockwell et al., 2009).
However, there have been a few studies to date which have discussed experiences from
The effectiveness of climate change communication
81
online climate conference series, or on how the climate challenges of our times can serve
as incentives in directing people to engage in more climate friendly actions. This article
is the first to discuss the importance of the online climate conference series since they
started five years ago.
An important factor influencing the range of outreach and popularity of the online
climate conference series, is probably its good timing. The online conferences takes place
in early November in each year, just prior to the yearly meeting of the parties which
signed the united framework convention on climate change (UNFCCC), whose
conference of the parties (called COPs) draw delegates from government agencies. By
doing so, a greater level of visibility is achieved, and the media is more interested
to the dissemination of the information by the online conference. Table 1 illustrates this
exponentially growing increase of interest recorded over the five 24-hour-long
conference days by presenting key indicators from the year 2009, the year where the
media coverage was very high.
Table 1
CLIMATE 2009 record of hits, page views, and sessions
Date
Hits
Page views
Sessions
2.11.2009
255,329
10,911
2,602
3.11.2009
340,713
101,872
2,794
4.11.2209
270,848
92,404
2,557
5.11.2009
429,008
159,982
17,877
6.11.2009
259.615
104,503
14,551
1,555,149
469,672
40,381
Total
The increasing numbers of hits has shown that interest in the topic and in the online
conferences in that particular year was high, thanks to the high press coverage.
4
Conclusions
This article has shown that the online conference series represents an efficient tool to
communicate climate change and disseminate climate change information. It should be
pointed out that that the online climate conferences were never meant to be a substitute
for conventional meetings or conferences, where people meet face to face. In addition, it
seems unlikely that virtual events – as a whole – will ever replace traditional conferences.
However, they do offer an added value. Especially now, in times when budgets for
attending physical events (e.g., travel expenditure and expenses with accommodation and
subsistence) are becoming more and more restricted, sophisticated digital platforms may
enable virtual environments that simulate the benefits of real events, and attendees are
beginning to shift to accessing subject matter experts and industry networking online.
In terms of the main lessons learned from the case study offered by the online climate
conference series, the following items may be useful:
a
Scope: online conferences need to have a very concrete scope. The focus on climate
issues has been a key feature of the conference series, and the fact that each year a
theme is chosen, helps to focus the attention of users.
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W. Leal Filho et al.
b
Technical and social emphasis: in order to be authoritative, online climate
conferences need a balanced technical and social emphasis, i.e. they should not
solely rely on technical matters (i.e., climate change simulations and forecasts), but
ought to give equal emphasis to matters of social, and economic concerns since these
are equally important.
c
Clear communication of all details: since not all users are fully familiar with all
features of internet use in online events, it is important to communicate all aspects of
usage in a clear and comprehensive way: how to get into sessions, how to read
protocols of the chat sessions, how to consider time zones, etc.
d
Interactivity: online climate conferences should be able to put users in touch with
authors and vice-versa. Special provisions to allow users to pose questions should be
made, so that an interaction and a dialogue may take place.
e
Selection of authors: in order to be balanced, online climate conferences should not
only work with already well-known experts, but also actively engage new ones such
as PhD students at the final stages of their studies and young scientists. This will
provide a sound basis for further career development and enable access to innovative
approaches and methods.
f
Added features: apart from the papers, online conferences should use other added
features such as videos and references to new publications, to maximise the
information experience of users.
The experiences gathered as part of the online climate conference series have been very
encouraging and there is a perceived need for this kind of event and international
interaction, as a means to communicate matters related to climate change. Apart from the
possibility to promote information dissemination on climate change, the events allow
delegates from developing countries to access a wide body of information and knowledge
at no costs, hence allowing them to truly be part of the global climate change debate.
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Notes
1
Recently, the climate conference series have been organised in ways which offer delegates the
unique opportunity to look at technological developments with regard to creating favourable
attitudes towards climate change (Leal Filho and Mannke, 2009; Leal Filho, 2011, 2012, 2013;
Leal Filho et al., 2013).
The effectiveness of climate change communication
Nomenclature
ACCLIMATE
Adaptation to climate change
AOSIS
Alliance of Small Island States
CARICOM
The Caribbean Community and Common Market
CO2
Carbon dioxide
COP
Conference of the parties
CRED
Center for Research on Environmental Decisions
CREDP
Caribbean Renewable Energy Development Programme
DIREKT
Small Developing Island Renewable Energy Knowledge and
Technology Transfer Network
DRR
Disaster risk reduction
ESEA
Ecological Society for Eastern Africa
GIZ
Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit
(European Environmental Agency)
HAW
Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
ICCIP
International Climate Change Information Programme
ICIMOD
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development
ICLEI
International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives
IDRC
International Development Research Centre
IDRC
International Development Research Centre
IDS
Institute of Development Studies
IOSS
Sahel and Sahara Observatory
IPCC
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
MDG
Millennium development goals
NGO
Non-governmental organisation
SKINT
The North Sea Skills Integration and New Technologies
UNEP
United Nations Environment Programme
UNESCO
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNFCCC
United Framework Convention on Climate Change
UNISDR
United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
WMO
World Meteorological Organisation
85