IFAD Reveals Inadequate News Coverage of Climate Threats

Climate change may cause massive migration across the globe. Anywhere from 25 million to 1 billion environmental people will be displaced by climate change by the year 2050. And according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), major news coverage is failing to explain climate change as a key driving force behind food insecurity and subsequent migration. To draw attention to this urgent new issue, a recent IFAD report, “Food, Migration and Climate Change: The Untold Story” was presented to international media attending the 21^st session of the Conference of Parties (COP21) climate talks in Paris.

The research reveals systematic problems with major media coverage of climate change, noting that most news stories fail to draw connections between crop failure, food insecurity, climate, and migration from developing countries. Media content analysis for the report focused on eight influential news outlets in the United Kingdom and France, and the authors then conducted four focus groups in each country to better understand news consumers’ perceptions of the role of climate change in other global issues. The research preceded COP21 so that the surge in interest around the conference would not influence the findings.

“The research clearly shows that media analyzed did not make the connection between climate change and many of the other stories dominating the news agenda at that time,” says Sam Dubberley, a journalist who prepared the report. “In fact, our research shows that climate change never once reached the front page of the news outlets we looked at.” Focus group participants shared their attitudes on climate change and participated in a “news game” that allowed them to act as journalists and discuss their motivations for approaching news coverage.

Major findings of the report include:

Front-page news and major televisions stories rarely analyze climate change, and news consumers don’t know where else to go to find richer information.
News consumers did not believe that major media helped them understand the linkages between climate change and issues such as agricultural failure, food insecurity, conflict, and migration from developing countries.
Editorial decisions made by media organizations directly impact audience views and beliefs about climate change.
News consumers believe climate change-related impacts need to be prioritized by news organizations.
Individuals on the front lines of climate change who suffer its direct impacts rarely have a voice or are mentioned in news stories. Instead, stories focus on academic institutions, climate scientists, and government reports.

“The media, whether local or global, are among the world’s most influential institutions and how they shape the climate change narrative remains vitally important,” says IFAD President Kanayo Nwanze. “[If] we don’t recognize the signs earlier, if we don’t make those crucial links, then poverty, migration, hunger and conflict will continue to make headlines,” he says.

The research identifies these links, reporting recent findings on crop failure, ailing livestock, and localized natural resource conflicts that act as driving factors for rural migration. Climate change is a “threat multiplier” to national security, according to IFAD, contributing to the recent surge of immigration into Europe.

Emily Nink

Emily is a masters candidate of the Agriculture, Food and Environment program at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy in Boston. She received a BA in Spanish and a BS in Global Environmental Change and Sustainability from Johns Hopkins University, where she was involved in many food sustainability projects including the creation of a community garden and leadership of the student group Real Food Hopkins, a chapter of the national Real Food Challenge. Emily worked for three years as a research assistant at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, researching food policy councils, writing curriculum for the Baltimore Food and Faith Project, and contributing to literature reviews and other scientific analyses. Emily's diverse academic interests include urban food policy and food system mapping, urban agriculture and community gardening, and sustainable supply chains. Her senior thesis at JHU explored heirloom tomato production in Maryland, and her current research focuses on sensory attributes of local produce in Massachusetts. She has contributed as a consultant to interdisciplinary projects and continues to be involved with Real Food Challenge. Through her masters degree at Tufts, she hopes to continue to learn from and contribute to the scholarship of a more sustainable food system, finding innovative solutions to complex system flaws, and increasing through investigation our knowledge of the intricate relationships between public health and the health of the environment.