Communication on Climate Change in the Mediterranean by Non-State Actors: A Framing Analysis

Year 2024, Volume: 16 Issue: 1, 91 - 114, 23.02.2024

Emre İşeri Iosif Botetzagıas

https://doi.org/10.53376/ap.2024.04

Abstract

How do non-state actors frame climate change in a region labelled as a climate hotspot? To answer this question, this article explores the climate communication strategies of non-state actors with various country origins. Adopting the quantitative content analysis method, it comparatively analyses differing frame utilizations (e.g. ecological/meteorological, policy, economic and energy interests, culture, science and technology, civil society) of non-state actors in their selected climate change/global warming-related reports (n=89) on the Mediterranean. The findings provide clues on the cosmopolitan framing of non-state actors on the regional level.

Keywords

Non-State Actors, Climate Change Communication, the Mediterranean, Framing Analysis

Project Number

BAP117

Akdeniz’de Devlet Dışı Aktörlerin İklim Değişikliği İletişimi: Bir Çerçeveleme Analizi

Abstract

İklim sıcak noktası olarak sınıflandırmakta olan bir bölgeye ilişkin olarak devlet dışı aktörler iklim değişikliğini nasıl çerçevelemektedirler? Bu soruyu yanıtlamak için bu makale, çeşitli ülke kökenlerine sahip devlet dışı aktörlerin iklim iletişim stratejilerini incelemektedir. İlgili çalışma, nicel içerik analizi yöntemini benimseyerek, devlet dışı aktörlerin Akdeniz'le ilgili seçili iklim değişikliği/küresel ısınma raporlarındaki (n=89) farklı çerçeve kullanımlarını (örneğin ekolojik/meteorolojik, politika, ekonomik ve enerji çıkarları, kültür, bilim ve teknoloji, sivil toplum) karşılaştırmalı olarak analiz etmektedir. Çalışmanın bulguları devlet dışı aktörlerin bölgesel düzeyde iklim değişimine yönelik kozmopolit çerçeveleme eğilimlerine ilişkin ipuçları sağlamaktadır.

Keywords

Devlet Dışı Aktörler, İklim Değişikliği İletişimi, Akdeniz, Çerçeve Analizi

Supporting Institution

This work was supported by the Project Evaluation Commission of Yaşar University (grant number BAP117) within the scope of the scientific research project BAP117—“The role of the non-governmental organizations in Mediterranean Climate Governance”.

Project Number

BAP117

Thanks

The authors would like to thank anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and research assistants Ezgi Su Mete, Ece Yılmaz, and İzem Uçkan for their assistance throughout the project.

References

• Acar, Sevil, Ahmet Atıl Aşıcı and A. Erinç Yeldan (2022), “Potential Effects of the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism on the Turkish Economy”, Environment, Development and Sustainability, 24 (6): 8162-8194.
• Adaman, Fikret, Hakkı Ataş, Senem Aydın-Düzgit, Ayhan Bağ, E. Fuat Keyman, Ümit Şahin and Hasan Yavuzyılmaz (2023), “2023 Seçimleri Arefesinde Arifesinde Partilerin Vaatlerinin Analizi [Analysis of Political Party Promises on the Eve of the 2023 Elections]”, IPC Analysis, https://ipc.sabanciuniv.edu/Content/Images/CKeditorImages/20230510-14053819.pdf (09.05.2023).
• Akçalı, Emel, Evrim Görmüş and Soli Özel (2022), “Energy transitions and Environmental Geopolitics in the Southern Mediterranean”, IAI Commentaries, 22: 1-7.
• Allan, James I. (2020), The New Climate Activism: NGO Authority and Participation in Climate Change Governance (Toronto: University of Toronto Press).
• Allan, James I. and Jennifer Hadden (2017), “Exploring the framing power of NGOs in global climate politics”, Environmental Politics, 26 (4): 600-620.
• Arıkan, Gizem and Defne Günay (2021), “Public Attitudes Towards Climate Change: A Cross-Country Analysis’’, The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 23 (1): 158-174.
• Backstrand, Karin, Jonathan W. Kuyper, Björn Linnér and Eva Lövbrand (2017), “Non-state Actors in Global Climate Governance: From Copenhagen to Paris and Beyond”, Environmental Politics, 26 (4): 561-579.
• Bally, Frédéric and Michele Coletti (2023), “Civil Society Involvement in the Governance of Green Infrastructure: An Analysis of Policy Recommendations from EU-Funded Projects”, Journal of Environmental Management, 342: 118070.
• Baysal, Başar and Uluç Karakaş (2017), “Climate Change and Security: Different Perceptions, Different Approaches”, Uluslararası İlişkiler, 14 (54): 21-44.
• BBC (2024), “2023 Confirmed as World's Hottest Year on Record”, https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-67861954 (09.01.2024).
• Bergamaschi, Luca and Nicola Sartori (2018), “The Geopolitics of Climate: A Transatlantic Dialogue”, Istituto Affari Internazionali Paper No. 18 (Roma).
• Berny, Nicolas and Christopher Rootes (2018), “Environmental NGOs at a Crossroads?”, Environmental Politics, 27 (6): 947-972.
• Bersi, Eleni (2020), “The Fight to Keep the Mediterranean Free of Oil Drilling”, https://thenation.com/article/politics/mediterranean-oil-gas-hydrocarbon/ (01.06.2023).
• Betsill, Maria M. and Elisabeth Corell (2001), “NGO Influence in International Environmental Negotiations: A Framework for Analysis”, Global Environmental Politics, 1 (4): 65-85.
• Borghesi, Simone and Matteo Mazzarano (2023), “The Green Transition in Mediterranean Countries: Challenges and Perspectives”, IEMed Mediterranean Yearbook 2023: 62-68.
• Botetzagias, Iosis, Peter Robinson and Leandros Venizelos (2010), “Accounting for Difficulties Faced in Materializing a Transnational ENGO Conservation Network: A Case-Study from the Mediterranean”, Global Environmental Politics, 10 (1): 115-151.
• Boykoff, Maxwell T. and Jules M. Boykoff (2007), “Climate Change and Journalistic Norms: A Case-Study of US Mass-Media Coverage”, Geoforum, 38 (6): 1190-1204.
• Boykoff, Maxwell T. (2008), “The Cultural Politics of Climate Change Discourse in UK Tabloids”, Political Geography, 27 (5): 549-569.
• Carvalho, Anabela, Margit van Wessel and Pieter Maeseele (2017), “Communication Practices and Political Engagement with Climate Change: A Research Agenda”, Environmental Communication, 11 (1): 122-135.
• ClimaSouth (2018), “The Future of Climate Action in the South Mediterranean Region Lessons Learned Since the Paris Agreement’’, https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/70f66617-2cbc-11e8-b5fe-01aa75ed71a1/language-en (05.06.2023).
• Corell, Elisabeth and Michele M. Betsill (2001), “A Comparative Look at NGO Influence in International Environmental Negotiations: Desertification and Climate Change”, Global Environmental Politics, 1 (4): 86-107.
• Cramer, Wolfgang, Joel Guiot and Kirsten Marini (2020), “Climate and Environmental Change in the Mediterranean Basin—Current Situation and Risks for the Future”, First Mediterranean Assessment Report No: MAR1 (Marseille: MedECC).
• Croteau, Daniel and Luke Hicks (2003), “Coalition Framing and the Challenge of a Consonant Frame Pyramid: The Case of a Collaborative Response to Homelessness”, Social Problems, 50 (2): 251-272.
• Crowther, Thomas, Thomas Elliott, Jerome Hospedales and Brittany Warren (2021), “Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Change, Clean Energy and Health”, Policy Brief Task Force, 2 (Milano: ISPI).
• Curran, Graeme (2018), “Is Renewable Energy Still Green? Shaping Australia’s Renewable Energy Enterprise in an Age of Ecological Modernisation”, Environmental Politics, 28 (5): 950-969.
• DIIS (2021), “New Partnerships Can Strengthen Climate Action in the Middle East and North Africa”, https://pure.diis.dk/ws/files/4769908/climate_security_single_page_locked.pdf (09.06.2023).
• Doyle, Joe (2009), “Climate Action and Environmental Activism: The Role of Environmental NGOs and Grassroots Movements in the Global Politics of Climate Change”, Boyce, T. and Joe Lewis (Eds.), Climate Change and the Media (Bristol: Peter Lang): 103-116.
• Dyrhauge, Helene and Kristina Kurze (2024), “Introduction – Making the European Green Deal work: EU sustainability policies at home and abroad”, Dyrhauge, Helene and Kristina Kurze (Eds.), Making the European Green Deal Work EU Sustainability Policies at Home and Abroad (London: Routledge): 1-13.
• ECFR (2021), “Climate of Cooperation: How the EU Can Help Deliver a Green Grand Bargain’’, https://ecfr.eu/publication/climate-of-cooperation-how-the-eu-can-help-deliver-a-green-grand-bargain/ (June 2023).
• Eicke, Laima, Silvia Weko, Maria Apergi and Adela Marian (2021), “Pulling Up the Carbon Ladder? Decarbonization, Dependence, and Third-Country Risks from the European Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism’’, Energy Research & Social Science, 80: 102240.
• Elcano Royal Institute (2021), “The climate and energy transition component of the Spanish National Recovery and Resilience Plan”, https://media.realinstitutoelcano.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/ari64-2021-feas-steinberg-climate-and-energy-transition-component-of-spanish-national-recovery-and-resilience-plan.pdf (08.06.2023).
• ELIAMEP (2021), “2022 Outlook: Special Edition”, https://eliamep.gr/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/ELIAMEP-2022-Outlook-ENG-Final.pdf (08.06.2023).
• El-Katiri, Laura (2023), “Sunny Side Up: Maximising the European Green Deal’s Potential for North Africa and Europe”, ECFR, https://ecfr.eu/publication/sunny-side-up-maximising-the-european-green-deals-potential-for-north-africa-and-europe/ (05.01.2024)
• EU (2019), “The European Green Deal”, https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_19_6691 (08.01.2023).
• Euro-Mediterranean Women’s Foundation (2019), “Climate change and Tunisia’s Tozeur oases: an opportunity to boost women’s leadership and economic activity”, https://docs.euromedwomen.foundation/files/ermwf-documents/8935_climatechangeandtunisia%E2%80%99stozeuroases-anopportunitytoboostwomen%E2%80%99sleadershipandeconomicactivity.pdf (06.06.2023).
• Euromesco (2018), “Climate Security in the Sahel and the Mediterranean: local and regional responses’’, https://www.euromesco.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Joint-Policy-Study_13_Climate-Security-in-the-Sahel-and-the-Mediterranean.pdf (01.06.2023).
• Gamson, William A. (1989), “News as Framing: Comments on Graber”, American Behavioral Scientist, 33 (2): 157-161.
• Garth, Anthony and Timmons Roberts (2022), “Economic Framing Dominates Climate Policy Reporting: A Fifty-State Analysis”, Climatic Change, 172 (3): 1-21.
• Gkiouzepas, Georgios and Iosif Botetzagias (2018), “The Narrative Cycle of Climate Change in the Greek Newspapers 2001–2008”, Environmental Communication, 12 (4): 507-524.
• Günay, Defne (2020), “European Interests and External Climate Change Policy of the EU toward Egypt”, Alternatif Politika, 12 (1): 1-19.
• Günay, Defne (2024), “When Climate Action is Strategic: The Case of the European Neighbourhood Policy towards Egypt”, Dyrhauge Helene and Kristina Kurze (Ed.), Making the European Green Deal Work: EU Sustainability Policies at Home and Abroad (Routledge: London): 162-176.
• Günay, Defne, Emre İşeri, Metin Ersoy and Adeola Abdulateef Elega (2021), “Media Framing of Climate Change Action in Carbon Locked-In Developing Countries: Adaptation or Mitigation?”, Environmental Communication, 15 (5): 663-677.
• Hadden, Jennifer and Sarah Sunn Bush (2021), “What’s Different About the Environment? Environmental INGOs in Comparative Perspective”, Environmental Politics, 30 (1-2): 202-223.
• Hadi, Ali S., AHM Rahmatullah Imon and M. Werner (2009), “Detection of Outliers”, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: WIREs Computational Statistics, 1 (1): 57-70.
• Hale, Thomas N., S. Chan, A. Hsu, A. Clapper, C. Elliott, P. Faria, ... and O. Widerberg (2021), “Sub- and Non-State Climate Action: A Framework to Assess Progress, Implementation, and Impact”, Climate Policy, 21 (3): 406-420.
• Heinrich Böll Stiftung (2016), “Climate Governance and the Role of Climate Finance in Morocco”, https://us.boell.org/en/2016/10/31/climate-governance-and-role-climate-finance-morocco (01.06.2023).
• Herranz-Surrallés, Laura (2018), “Thinking Energy Outside the Frame? Reframing and Misframing in Euro-Mediterranean Energy Relations”, Mediterranean Politics, 23 (1): 122-141.
• Hiles, Sara Shipley and Amanda Hinnant (2014), “Climate change in the newsroom: Journalists’ evolving standards of objectivity when covering global warming”, Science Communication, 36 (4): 428-453.
• Houzir, Meriem, Mokass Mustaphs and Schalatek Liane (2016), “Climate Governance and the Role of Climate Finance in Morocco”, Heinrich Böll Stiftung Policy Report (Berlin: Heinrich Böll Foundation).
• IAI (2018), “The Geopolitics of Climate a Transatlantic Dialogue”, https://www.iai.it/en/pubblicazioni/geopolitics-climate-transatlantic-dialogue (01.06.2023).
• International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (2019), Climate change in the Mediterranean snapshot: Impact of warming air and sea temperature on MPAs, https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1oTHcu83SOY9zCvM5Q7tAdnj8GerRqWny (07.06.2023).
• IPCC (2023), AR6 Synthesis Report Climate Change 2023, https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/ (24.12.2023)
• İşeri, Emre and Ahmet Çağrı Bartan (2019), “Turkey’s geostrategic vision and energy concerns in the Eastern Mediterranean security architecture: a view from Ankara”, Tziarras, Zenonas (Ed.), The New Geopolitics of the Eastern Mediterranean: Trilateral Partnerships and Regional Security, Re-imagining the Eastern Mediterranean Series: PCC Report, 3 (Nicosia: PRIO Cyprus Centre): 111-124.
• İşeri, Emre and Tuğçe Uygurtürk (2022), “Energy Governance in Turkey”, Knodt, Michèle and Jörg Kemmerzell (Eds.), Handbook of Energy Governance in Europe (Cham: Springer International Publishing): 1217-1254.
• İşeri, Emre, Defne Günay and Alper Almaz (2018), “Contending narratives on the sustainability of nuclear energy in Turkey”, Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 36 (1): 160-177.
• İşleyen, Beste (2015), “The European Union and neoliberal governmentality: Twinning in Tunisia and Egypt’’, European Journal of International Relations, 21 (3): 672-690.
• IUCN (2019), “Climate change in the Mediterranean snapshot: Impact of warming air and sea temperature on MPAs”, https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1oTHcu83SOY9zCvM5Q7tAdnj8GerRqWny (07.08.2023).
• Jones, Laura, Benjamin Harvey and R. Godfrey-Wood (2016), “The changing role of NGOs in supporting climate services”, BRACED Resilience Intel Paper No: 4 (Wales: ODI).
• Jones, Lindsey, Blane Harvey and Rachel Godfrey-Wood (2016), “The changing role of NGOs in supporting climate services’’, BRACED Resilience Intel Paper No: 4 (Wales: ODI).
• Kadirbeyoğlu, Zeynep, Fikret Adaman, Begüm Özkaynak and Hande Paker (2017), “The effectiveness of environmental civil society organizations: An integrated analysis of organizational characteristics and contextual factors”, VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 28 (4): 1717-1741.
• Katsaris, Andreas (2015), “Managing Climate Change in the Mediterranean: The Union for the Mediterranean and the Challenges of Fragmentation”, Mediterranean Politics, 20 (2): 288-294.
• Lakoff, George (2010), “Why it matters how we frame the environment”, Environmental communication, 4 (1): 70-81.
• Lange, Manfred A. (2020), “Climate Change in the Mediterranean: Environmental Impacts and Extreme Events”, IEMed Mediterranean Yearbook 2020, https://iemed.org/publication/climate-change-in-the-mediterranean-environmental-impacts-and-extreme-events/ (08.01.2024).
• Littoz-Monnet, Annabelle (2014), “The role of independent regulators in policy making: Venue-shopping and framing strategies in the EU regulation of old wives cures”, European Journal of Political Research, 53 (1): 1-17.
• Luna, Zakiya T. (2010), “Marching toward reproductive justice: Coalitional (re) framing of the March for Women’s Lives”, Sociological inquiry, 80 (4): 554-578.
• Machin, Anna (2019), “Changing the Story? The Discourse of Ecological Modernization in the European Union”, Environmental Politics, 28 (2): 208-227.
• McGregor, Ian, Hamish Yerbury and A. Shahid (2018), “The voices of local NGOs in climate change issues: Examples from climate vulnerable nations”, Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 10 (3): 63-80.
• Newell, Peter (2000), Climate for Change: Non-State Actors and the Global Politics of the Greenhouse (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
• Partelow, Susanne, K. J. Winkler and G. M. Thaler (2020), “Environmental non-governmental organizations and global environmental discourse”, Plos one, 15 (5): 1-19.
• Pezzullo, Phaedra C. and Robert Cox (2018), Environmental communication and the public sphere (London: Sage Publications).
• Price, Caron (2020), “Climate Change and Israel's National Security”, https://www.inss.org.il/publication/climate-change-and-israel/ (06.06.2023).
• PRIO Cyprus (2016), “Global Energy Debates and the Eastern Mediterranean”, https://www.prio.org/download/publicationfile/430/Global%20Energy%20Debates%20and%20the%20Eastern%20Mediterranean,%20PCC%20Report%201-2016.pdf (05.06.2023).
• Rizzo, Alessandro (2016), “Transparency of Climate Action in The ENPI South Region”, ClimaSouth Paper No: 1 (Morocco: ClimaSouth).
• Rödder, Simone (2020), “The ambivalent role of environmental NGOs in climate communication”, Journal of Science Communication, 19 (06): 1-9.
• Sanchez-Reaza, Javier, Diego Ambasz and Predrag Djukic (2023), “Making the European Green Deal Work for People: The Role of Human Development in the Green Transition”, https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/7b1fcc3c-f44f-4a11-9828-9ae191a746c6 (07.01.2024).
• Sandri, Serena, Hussam Hussein, Nooh Alshyab and Jacek Sagatowski (2023), “The European green deal: Challenges and opportunities for the Southern Mediterranean’’, Mediterranean Politics, 1-12.
• Schafer, Mark S. and Saffron O’Neill (2017), “Frame analysis in climate change communication”, Hans von Storch (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Climate Science, https://oxfordre.com/climatescience/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228620-e-487 (09.06.2023).
• Stergiou, Andreas (2023), “Eastern Mediterranean energy geopolitics revisited: green economy instead of conflict’’, Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 25 (4): 604-625.
• Talbot, Valeria (2021), “The scramble for Eastern Mediterranean: Energy and geopolitics”, ISPI Report (Milano: ISPI).
• Teevan, Chloe, Alfonso Medinilla and Katja Sergejeff (May 2021), “The Green Deal in EU foreign and development policy’’, ECDPM, https://ecdpm.org/work/the-green-deal-in-eu-foreign-and-development-policy (05.01.2024).
• Tocci, Nathalie, Margherita Bianchi, Victor Burguete, Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, Marco Giuli, Jean-Michel Glachant, Pier Paolo Raimondi, Simone Tagliapietra, Harry Tzimitras and Matteo Urbani (2023), “For a New Euro-Med Green Deal”, IAI Commentaries, https://www.iai.it/it/pubblicazioni/new-euro-med-green-deal (03.01.2024).
• Tziarras, Zenonas (2021), “Energy and Sovereignty in the new geopolitics of the Eastern Mediterranean”, Oxford Energy Forum, 126: 58-61.
• UNDP (2021), “The Peoples’ Climate Vote”, https://www.undp.org/publications/peoples-climate-vote (09.06.2023).
• UNEP (2023), “Green Economy”, https://www.unep.org/regions/asia-and-pacific/regional-initiatives/supporting-resource-efficiency/green-economy (25.12.2023).
• Vu, Hong Tien, Matthew Blomberg, Hyunjin Seo, Yuchen Liu, Fatemeh Shayesteh and Hoang Van Do (2021), “Social media and environmental activism: framing climate change on Facebook by global NGOs”, Science Communication, 43 (1): 91-115.
• Yearley, Steven (2008), “Environmental action groups and other NGOs as communicators”, Bucchi, Massimiano and Brian Trench (Eds.), Handbook of public communication of science and technology (London: Routledge): 159-171.
• Yla-Anttila, Tapio, Jari Vesa, Ville Eranti, Anne Kukkonen, Tuomo Lehtimäki, Matti Lonkila and Eeva Luhtakallio (2018), “Up with Ecology, Down with Economy? The Consolidation of the Idea of Climate Change Mitigation in the Global Public Sphere”, European Journal of Communication, 33 (6): 587-603.