Mis/disinformation and Vulnerable Populations

Mis/disinformation

As the world witnessed a massive misinformation and disinformation campaign undermining Covid-19 and vaccines so too, has climate change been plagued by denialism and deceptive or misleading content.

Climate change mis/disinformation misrepresents scientific data, including by omission or cherry-picking, with the intention of eroding trust in climate science, climate-focused institutions, experts, and solutions; or falsely publicises efforts as supportive of climate goals that in fact contribute to climate warming or contravene the scientific consensus on mitigation or adaptation. An example is greenwashing: a process of conveying a false impression about how a company’s products are environmentally sound. See Earth Journalism Network’s special project on greenwashing here. 

The problem is that disinformation warps climate change evidence, weakens policy support and delays or threatens urgent action for a liveable future.

According to the Earth Journalism Network, in Africa for example, climate misinformation spurs practices that increase fossil fuel use, exacerbate deforestation and result in inadequate preparation for extreme weather events and public health crises. At the same time, it erodes trust in climate scientists and the media.

Here are two videos exploring these issues and a short course on greenwashing.

• https://earthjournalism.net/video-highlight/the-state-of-climate-misdisinformation-in-east-africa
• https://earthjournalism.net/video-highlight/research-report-launch-how-journalists-find-verify-and-use-climate-information-in

In the video below, listen to how the meteorologist and the narrator present circulating myths about climate change and how they debunk them with facts:

Vulnerable populations

We discussed in the previous module that certain groups and communities are more affected than by climate change than others. These include women, children, the elderly, migrants, the impoverished, ethnic, and racial minorities, and other marginalized groups.

We have also read, seen, and heard powerful stories in the voices of the people disproportionately affected by climate change and the impacts on their health. The plight of vulnerable populations needs to be spotlighted to bring their unjust suffering to the attention of governments and international stakeholders. We need to also loudly trumpet the successes people have had in adapting to and mitigating climate change.

Here’s a checklist of criteria to help you assess how inclusive your story is:

• Is my story relevant and useful to the people I am describing?
• Does my story portray them accurately?
• Is my language sensitive and free of bias, discrimination, or stereotyping?
• Does my story include diverse voices and perspectives?

Here are more resources for reporting on climate change and women.

• Gender and environment statistics: Unlocking information for action and measuring the SDGs, from U.N. Environment, and IUCN.
• Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The Gender Snapshot 2022, from the U.N. and U.N. Women. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/gender-snapshot/2022/GenderSnapshot.pdf
• Gender Climate Tracker, from the Women’s Environment and Development Organization