Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Communication Strategy to increase public awareness on climate change



 It’s all good to speak out about climate change and its impacts however, for effective climate change communication, strategy should be adopted.
The strategy would identify target audiences to disseminate the messages. The message should describe climate change, its impacts, how people contribute to climate change and how people should take action. Effective message is essential thus the message should be clear and easy to understand. Messages differ from audiences. The strategy would also propose how these messages should be delivered and through which medium. There needs to be multi-pronged approach for communicating the climate change campaign. It needs to be remembered that different target audiences will be mostly engaged through different mediums. The medium also impact on what message will be disseminated. For instance, a conference can be more in depth than a TV or radio public service announcement. There are a number of opportunities to raise awareness on climate change through conferences, workshops and training. These events can involve scientists, government officials, local community leaders and NGOs to provide overview information on climate change. These events can also be used to leverage free media coverage. It is actually important to have an operational website that keeps target audience regularly informed on climate change. This website should contain upcoming events for instance. Engagement with Newspaper, TV and radio is not negligible.  For instance, a radio quiz show could be aired. Gifts will be provided to people who will give good answers to question like “how GHG emissions can be reduced”. This quiz show will amplify public awareness on climate change. Documentary on vermiculture could be broadcasted on TV during prime time. Over social media platforms like YouTube or Facebook, competitions can be organised. Competitions are a good way to engage the general public, especially younger people about important issues. People could be asked to put together a 5-minute video emphasising the importance of planting trees to fight climate change for example. The winner could get a Smartphone. This competition will increase awareness on climate change.

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