As interest in ocean acidification (OA) grows, we must be thinking about communicating OA for different audiences and outcomes, moving from describing “what is OA” and “why does OA matter” to “what can different actors do to address OA?”
On February 22, 2023 the OA Alliance hosted a webinar, ‘Communicating OA and Climate-Ocean Change’ in order to support our members and partners in developing calls to climate-ocean action.
It’s important that members of the OA Alliance have a strong narrative and understand the discrete outcomes they want to achieve through OA communication efforts.
The webinar provided an overview from the OA Alliance in developing calls to action. We shared learnings from participating in the 5th International Marine Science Communication Conference (CommOCEAN 2022). And finally, we heard from practitioners who are working on OA communications projects at local, regional, and international scales.
Our guests:
Mr. Salesa Nihmei, Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, Meteorology and Climate Officer, NZ Pacific Partnership on OA.
Nancy Hotchkiss, Pathways Collaborative, Oregon OAH Council Communications Project.
Austin Pugh, Canadian Community of Practice on OA, DFO/ NOAA bi-lateral comms collaboration.
Dr. Martha Sutula, Southern California Coastal Water Research Project.
Key takeaways:
We must move from describing ‘what is OA’ and ‘why does it matter’, to ‘what can different actors do to address OA’–whether through climate mitigation and adaptation targets, policy integration, management decisions and regulations, or targeted monitoring and research.
Audience, audience, audience. The most effective communications are demand driven, get to know your audience and understand their needs. What channels do they use to receive information? In what formats?
OA information and ‘calls to action’ are going to be discrete for different purposes, different actors and applicable at different scales.
The importance of cross-sectoral relationships, collaboration is key; scientists need support designing and achieving communications aspects of their projects.
The importance of Iteration, and consistency in our messages, climate-ocean narratives should be reinforced across the OA community of practitioners. We can make use of the communications tools already available to simplify our work.
Scicomms shouldn’t feel like an add-on or after thought to science, there should be more of an institutional culture to co-design comms with end users, promote and fund communications capacity.
Partners at SPREP in Samoa highlighted how communications are experienced in different ways depending on your context. In the Pacific region alone, there are about 2,000 distinct languages. It’s important to understand appropriate words to describe OA or other climate-ocean impacts and solutions.
RESOURCES REFERENCED:
OA Alliance posters and infographics including:
How Does OA Impact Services that Humans Depend On?
How Do You Measure Ocean Acidification?
What Do Policy Makers Need to Know?
What Can Local Governments Do?
What Can You Do to Address Climate-Ocean Change?
New Zealand Pacific Partnership on Ocean Acidification; and outreach materials including OA posters several translations for Vanuatu, Kiribati, Fiji, Niue, Tonga, Tokelau and Samoa.
The Oregon Coordinating Council on Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia (OAH Council) released its 2022 Biennial Legislative Report which includes actions taken by the Council as outlined in the State’s OAH Action Plan. In 2023, the OAH Council is taking on a larger communications project to identify audiences and calls to action associated with implementing and supporting the OAH Action Plan.
The Canadian Community of Practice on Ocean Acidification was initiated in 2018 and is sponsored by the Marine Environmental Observation Prediction and Response (MEOPAR) Network. MEOPAR Communities of Practice bring together researchers, practitioners, policy-makers, and community members to share expertise, to learn, and to provide a space for discussion and co-production of knowledge. New resources are being released on specific projects that assess social and economic vulnerability of key species in Canada, including Atlantic Sea Scallops. Learn more and check out projects here.
Frameworks Publications and Guidelines: How to Talk about Climate Change and the Ocean