One might think that doing a climate risk assessment for “the greatest threat the world has ever faced” (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights [OHCHR], 2022) would be a top priority for policy and decision makers. Unfortunately, adaptation planning, and implementation of strategies are not keeping up with changing climate (IPCC, 2022). That gap will widen at the current pace increasing the risk for more people. So how do practitioners get policy and decision makers to match the urgency the IPCC tells us is needed?
Having completed CALS503 Climate Risk Management, I know there are many tools, frameworks, and methods available to undertake a climate risk assessment. Some of these frameworks have been around for many years and have been honed with years of experience (for communities, built infrastructure, and ecosystems). Therefore, the how-to-do-it is available and should not be a barrier. In addition, there are also adaptation solutions that can cost effectively reduce an organization’s or community’s risk if only they would invest. Thus, the lack of solutions should not be a barrier.
Is How We Think a Barrier to Climate Action?
Perhaps a barrier is in how we think. Neuroscientist and psychologist research tells us that how we think and evaluate risk is based on intuition and that this shapes our decision to act (Roberts et al., 2021). Intuition is developed based on past experience, areas of expertise, bias, and prior knowledge. As a result, a climate practitioner needs to understand the decision makers’ areas of knowledge and expertise to frame the message accordingly. Doing so requires knowledge and interpersonal skills to communicate with the intended audience. Having these insights and skills is an essential aspect of what I think of as the art of climate action leadership.
The Art of Climate Action Leadership
At a minimum, the art of climate action leadership requires good communication skills. Those skills are applied initially to get a risk assessment process approved, secondly to bring together a diverse group of stakeholders and knowledge holders, and thirdly, to build sufficient momentum for action that will be taken on the highest priorities. Practitioners can start this process by focusing on listening, getting to know the intended audience, and understanding the primary risks the audience is already concerned about (Bennett et al., 2021; Maibach et al., 2011 & Roberts et al., 2021). With that information, the climate change practitioner can link the audience’s primary concerns to the climate risks affecting them.
Practitioners need to be aware that different audiences have different priorities. For example, Indigenous communities may not see the framing of climate risk as a top priority (Whitney et al., 2020). Solely focusing on climate risk misses context from the community’s history, the impacts of colonialism on the local environment, and the lack of self-determination and governance. Asking questions and listening first is foundational to the climate risk engagement process and will ensure the outputs are useful to end users (Roberts et al., 2021). The table below provides some questions to get the conversations started.
Questions to Start Building the Engagement Process
Note Table format adapted from ICLEI Canada (n.d.). Questions adapted from 1 Roberts et al., 2021, p. 13 & 14 and 2 ICLEI Canada, n.d., p. 19.
Benefits of the Engagement Process
Answers to the questions in the above table can be used to build the engagement process. When considering the process, Tuhiwai Smith, in Decolonizing Methodologies (2012), points out that the process is more important than the outcome because of the potential for healing and education that people involved undergo. Similarly, a climate risk assessment process can be used to build trust, especially when it involves diverse perspectives (Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment [CCME], 2021). Such a process can also build momentum for the adaptation phase and lead to long-term success.
An involved initial engagement process may be at odds with the urgency climate change practitioners feel to generate action. Planning the engagement process will help the practitioner determine where and when the effort should be made. Completing preliminary research or a desktop assessment with existing information can provide the practitioner with an understanding of local climate impacts and what organizations or similar communities are doing to address the risk (ICLEI Canada, n.d.). With that information in hand, the practitioner can look for win-win options that achieve the objectives of concerns facing the community or organization while addressing climate change risk. This win-win approach to climate risk assessment can create the desired support and build the most momentum. Additionally, another benefit of an involved engagement process is the exposure to climate risks that participants will go through as part of the process.
Talk About Local Climate Change Trends and Impacts
Increasing exposure to regional climate information and trends can help shift intuitive risk perception for decision makers (ICLEI Canada, n.d., & Roberts et al., 2021). Practitioners should have decision makers consider what climate impacts have already occurred and what trends they have noticed. Most people will have a story to tell. By listening to those stories, telling the stories of what others are doing and reiterating the scientific consensus, practitioners help decision makers connect climate change risk to their area of influence and ease doubt (Bennett et al., 2021 & Lewandowsky, 2021). In addition, practitioners can frame trends as “too much rain” or “too much heat” to make it easier for the audience to relate to these changes as critical risks (GIZ, EURAC & UNU-EHS, 2018).
Keep It Local and Within Decision Makers’ Area of Influence
Research also tells us to keep it local in time and space, as feeling a personal sense of risk is a powerful motivator to act (Maibach et al., 2011). However, climate change practitioners often use dates such as 2030, 2050 and 2100 to discuss milestones for climate targets or climate change impacts. Since most people typically think in much shorter time frames and have many immediate problems to contend with, distant dates may not be intuited as immediate risks. This can be addressed by pointing out that some of the adaptation work needed will take time to be implemented. Also, climate impacts are already occurring and will increase in severity, duration, and frequency (IPCC, 2022). In short, we are already in a pot of boiling water, and it is time to jump out.
Have You Noticed? Climate Change is Already Happening
Note From Ingemann, M. (2020, May 18). Don’t be the boiled frog. Jump out! https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dont-boiled-frog-jump-morten-ingemann/
To get decision makers to take the jump and recognize climate change risk as a top priority, practitioners can think about decision makers’ areas of knowledge and expertise and how that is applied to their understanding of risk. Practitioners can start the process by asking good questions and listening. If decision makers prioritize health, then link to health impacts from climate change and the health benefits of implementing adaptation measures (Maibach et al., 2011). Spending time at the beginning of the process builds trust and develops relationships. Mutual understanding can foster the momentum needed to ultimately implement climate adaptation measures. Additionally, practitioners should frame the issues around local climate impacts already occurring and bridge the far-off dates so decision makers can understand that humans are already in the soup, and it is getting hot! It is time to act in our areas of influence and communicate to deliver an understanding of climate change risk.
References
Bennett, A., Hatch, C.,& Pike, C. (2021). Climate Messaging that Works, Climate Narrative Initiative, Climate Access. https://climateaccess.org/sites/default/files/Climate%20Messaging%20that%20Works%20-%20Talking%20Energy%20Transition%20and%20Climate%20Change%20in%20Canada.pdf
Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment. (2021). Guidance on Good Practices in Climate Change Risk Assessment. https://ccme.ca/en/res/riskassessmentguidancesecured.pdf
GIZ, EURAC & UNU-EHS. (2018). Climate Risk Assessment for Ecosystem-based Adaptation – A guidebook for planners and practitioners. Bonn: GIZ. https://www.adaptationcommunity.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/giz-eurac-unu-2018-en-guidebook-climate-risk-asessment-eba.pdf
ICLEI Canada. (n.d.). Changing Climate, Changing Communities: Guide and Workbook for Municipal Climate Adaptation. https://icleicanada.org/project/changing-climate-changing-communities-guide-and-workbook-for-municipal-climate-adaptation/
IPCC. (2022). Summary for Policymakers. [H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, E.S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, M. Tignor, A. Alegría, M. Craig, S. Langsdorf, S. Löschke, V. Möller, A. Okem (eds.)]. In: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. [H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, M. Tignor, E.S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Craig, S. Langsdorf, S. Löschke, V. Möller, A. Okem, B. Rama (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA, pp. 3–33, doi:10.1017/9781009325844.001
Lewandowsky, S. (2021). Climate Change Disinformation and How to Combat It. Annual Review of Public Health, 42(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-090419-102409
Maibach, E., Matthew, N.,& Weather, M., (2011). Conveying the Human Implications of Climate Change – A Climate Change Communication Primer for Public Health Professionals. Fairfax, VA: George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication.
Roberts, F., De Meyer, K. & Hubble-Rose, L. (2021). Communicating climate risk: a handbook, Climate Action Unit, University College London. London, United Kingdom. DOI: 10.14324/000.rp.10137325
Tuhiwai Smith, L. (2012). Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. Bloomsbury Academic & Professional. (Chapter 7). http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/royalroads-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1426837
United Nations Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR). (2022, October 12). Climate change the greatest threat the world has ever faced, UN expert warns. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/10/climate-change-greatest-threat-world-has-ever-faced-un-expert-warns
Whitney, C., Frid, A., Edgar, B., Walkus, J., Siwallace, P., Siwallace, I., & Ban, N. (2020). “Like the plains people losing the buffalo”: Perceptions of climate change impacts, fisheries management, and adaptation actions by Indigenous peoples in coastal British Columbia, Canada. Ecology and Society, 25(4). https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-12027-250433