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Communicating climate change in the rice sector
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This book shares insights on how to communicate climate change in the rice sector in the Philippines. This is for agricultural extension workers, teachers, or anyone who, from time to time, talk about climate change.
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... Susanne Moser points out the numbing effect of climate science delivering a constant onslaught of bad news: "for most people it is challenging to keep listening to (such) depressing news. … The problem is too big, too complicated, too overwhelming -it's hopeless" 183 . ...
The UCL Policy Commission on the Communication of Climate Science, chaired by Professor Chris Rapley comprises a cross-disciplinary project group of researchers from psychology, neuroscience, science and technology studies, earth sciences and energy research. The Commission examined the challenges faced in communicating climate science effectively to policy-makers and the public, and the role of climate scientists in communication. / The Commission explored the role of climate scientists in contributing to public and policy discourse and decision-making on climate change, including how highly complex scientific research which deals with high levels of uncertainty and unpredictability can be effectively engaged with public and policy dialogue. The Commission also examined the insights that scientific research and professional practice provide into how people process and assimilate information and how such knowledge offers pathways for climate scientists to achieve more effective engagement. Finally, the Commission sought to identify the approaches that climate scientists can adopt to effectively communicate their messages and to make clear recommendations to climate scientists and to policy-makers about the most effective ways of communicating climate science. / The Commission's activity included a one day experimental event, 'Seeing Yourself See', with a number of climate scientists to discover how they saw their role and their perspectives on the communication of climate science.
... Susanne Moser points out the numbing effect of climate science delivering a constant onslaught of bad news: "for most people it is challenging to keep listening to (such) depressing news. … The problem is too big, too complicated, too overwhelming -it's hopeless" 183 . ...
Climate scientists are finding themselves ill-prepared to engage with the often emotionally, politically and ideologically charged public discourse on the evaluation and use of their science. This is proving unhelpful to evidence-based policy formulation, and is damaging their public standing. As a result, there is a pressing need to re-examine and clarify the roles of climate scientists in policy, decision-making and public engagement. Their professional norms, values and practices need to be reconsidered and revised accordingly. In expanding their skills and expertise to better match societal needs, climate scientists can benefit from a mutually supportive working relationship with social and behavioural scientists, and with experts in public engagement and communication. Such reforms alone will not be sufficient to achieve a more constructive and effective formulation of policy and an improved public discourse, but they provide a crucial step toward those objectives.
This paper explores how Climate-resiliency Field Schools involving smallholder farmers in the Mindanao region of the Philippines advance climate-smart farming practices. Using data from field observations, 86 interviews, and 13 focus group discussions from five municipalities, the research finds that cross-scale activities, including local plans and multi-stakeholder forums, and municipal budgeting processes, influence adaptation and mitigation to climate change in smallholder farming systems. Furthermore, using matrix analysis and stakeholder responses, we identify interactions, synergies, conflicts, and potential co-benefits between mitigation and adaptation, and food production practices. The analysis of climate-resiliency field school practices shows that the addition of livelihood outcomes to smallholder farming landscapes strengthen adaptation, mitigation, and food production outcomes (and vice versa). Climate-resiliency Field Schools have promoted the practice of organic farming, various systems for rice intensification, and the establishment of community seed banks. Other practices, such as soil conservation, reforestation, and agroforestry, have been used in Mindanao to maintain carbon stocks while increasing crop production. Climate-resiliency Field Schools serve as a multilevel institutional platform where farmers can access climate information, which they can use to improve farm planning (i.e., choices of crops, timing of farm preparation, and harvest). The research findings suggest that climate-smart interventions are highly location-specific, technically rigorous, involve knowledge-intensive processes, and are influenced by the knowledge and capacities of local farming communities and implementing partners. We conclude with some suggestions for the design of programs, and the types of interventions that are required to sustain and ultimately scale up efforts to enhance climate-smart agriculture.
Climate change threatens to derail the lives and livelihoods of farmers all over the world if appropriate adaptation measures are notput in place. Smallholder farmers, more so those in developing countries like the Philippines, are especially at risk because of inherent socio-economic characteristic and environmental factors limiting their capacity to adapt. One adaptation measure that can potentially benefit smallholder farmers is agroforestry. However limited understanding, incorrect information and a negative mindset could hinder the successful adoption of this practice. This case study of smallholder farmers in Penablanca, Cagayan, Philippines attempts to explain the farmers' adaptation practices by analyzing their knowledge and attitudes on climate change and agroforestry. Two sets of surveys, one on adaptation practices (n=600) and one on knowledge and attitudes (n=41) were conducted with smallholder farmers in Pefiablanca. Most farmers are aware of the basic concepts of climate change (91%) and agroforestry (84%), specifically of the impacts of climate extremes on their farms and of the benefits of agroforestry. However this may not always translate to correct practice of agroforestry and other adaptation measures. It is recommended that information, education, and communication programs on climate change and agroforestry for farmers should present targeted information on impacts and adaptation in a way that is relatable and understandable to them.
This book asks and answers the question of what communication research and other social sciences can offer that will help the global community to address climate change by identifying the conditions that can persuade audiences and encourage collective action on climate.
While scientists often expect that teaching people the scientific facts will change their minds about climate change, closer analysis suggests this is not always the case. Communication scholars are pursuing other ideas based on what we know about influence and persuasion, but this approach does not provide complete answers either. Some misconceptions can be corrected by education, and some messages will be more powerful than others. The advent of the Internet also makes vast stores of information readily available. But audiences still process this information through different filters, based on their own values and beliefs – including their understanding of how science works. In between momentous events, media coverage of climate tends to recede and individuals turn their attention back to their daily lives. Yet there is a path forward: Climate change is a social justice issue that no individual – and no nation – can solve on their own. A different sort of communication effort can help.
Effective reactions to climate change require collective, ultimately global, responses. Susanna Priest makes this argument eloquently and, through an adept evidentiary look at journalistic and strategic communication processes, sets the stage for building a strong societal demand for climate solutions.
Sharon Dunwoody, Evjue-Bascom Professor Emerita of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Communication and other social processes are the essence of science, and Susanna Priest applies that principle to communication about climate science. She makes a strong argument that we will only achieve successful climate communication when we recognize the collective, communal nature of climate knowledge. Individual knowledge and actions aren't enough; we must adapt communication research and action to focus on climate change as a social problem.
Bruce V. Lewenstein, Professor of Science Communication and Chair, Department of Science & Technology Studies, Cornell University
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Susanna Priest provides a concise but comprehensive look at climate change communication. This book provides an invaluable overview of relevant research and theory, from cognitive processes to social dynamics, and makes a compelling argument that we need to cultivate critical science literacy among citizens of today’s politically charged, media-saturated societies. Her insights should prove useful to both science communicators and science communication researchers.
William Evans, Professor, Department of Journalism and Creative Media, University of Alabama
This study analyzes the risk perceptions and risk attitudes of farmers practicing different rice-based cropping patterns in the rainfed lowland ecosystems of Ilocos Norte, Philippines. The Likert scale and Kruskal-Wallis test were employed to assess the farmers’ risk perceptions while the experimental method was applied to determine the farmers’ risk attitudes (i.e., risk averse, risk neutral, or risk taker). Regression analysis highlights the significant factors affecting perceptions and attitudes. Resource-endowed and resource-poor farmers generally perceived various risk sources as moderately low regardless of crops planted. However, on the average, resource-poor farmers were more likely to consider farming as not risky possibly because they had little to lose or gain compared to their resource-endowed counterparts. By source of risk, both farmer groups perceived that farming is relatively risky considering the increasing price of fertilizer and environmental factors (e.g., weather), which are beyond their control. By crop, the farmers considered rice and corn as relatively risky compared to other crops. The major crops are rice during the wet season and corn in the dry season. High fertilizer costs and erratic climatic conditions usually burden the farmers during the wet season. Similarly, corn output is badly affected by adverse weather circumstances. Farm size and wealth are the variables that affect the farmers’ risk perceptions. The farmers in Ilocos Norte were found to be generally risk averse. Wealth, age, and availability of credit are important determinants of the farmers’ risk attitudes, but their impacts vary across cropping patterns.
Misconceptions about climate change science are pervasive among the US public. This study investigated the possibility that these misconceptions may be reflective of science teachers’ knowledge and teaching of climate change science. Florida and Puerto Rico secondary science teachers who claim to teach extensively about climate change were surveyed in regard to their conceptions of climate change science and the climate change-related topics they teach. Results show that many teachers hold naïve views about climate change (e.g. that ozone layer depletion is a primary cause of climate change) and climate change science (e.g. that it must be based on controlled experiments for it to be valid). In addition, teachers in both groups neglect crucial topics such as how evidence for climate change is developed and the social, political, and economic dimensions of climate change. Our results suggest the need for teachers to understand how to teach climate change and the nature of climate change science using authentic contexts that promote effective socioscientific decision-making and climate change mitigation.
Over recent decades, climate change has rapidly become a serious threat to human society and well being. One of the key identified effects of changing climate is the expected increase in flooding events. Flooding, brought about by heavy rainfall and frequent typhoons, is predicted to increase in a climate change prone country like the Philippines. As a country which often experiences climate-related disasters, men and women have developed adaptation strategies that make them resilient to extreme weather events. Using gender-sensitive qualitative methods, this study shows the gendered adaptation to flooding in rice farming communities in Nueva, Ecija Philippines. Based on the initial results of the study, men and women adapt to flooding according to their traditional roles. Moreover, due to changing weather patterns which greatly affect their livelihoods, men and women have assumed new roles. This alteration of gender roles has significant impacts on men and women farmers and on the welfare of their households. This study highlights the importance of understanding the gendered adaptation strategies and their consequences that can provide a basis for designing long term strategies for adaptations to climate variability.