DIGITAL communication plays a key role in integrating the concept of climate change in vulnerable communities and helps them with the collective analysis of new challenges they face in their lives.
These digital communication techniques are based on the socio-cultural contexts of the communities and they must mobilise and empower them to fight the unpredictable and unforeseen challenges posed by climate change.
Digitisation, as we know it, is anything that is online or on electronic devices such as laptops, iPads, mobile phones, computer systems, video cameras and many other computer applications.
These can be multipurpose and they have a role to play even in interrogating and interfacing climate challenges.
During the past three decades, communication networks, systems and devices have all moved towards digital interventions.
Digital communication is versatile and constitutes the following pillars: text, audio, speech, music, visual, video, all adding to what is known as multimedia communication.
These can resonate well with participatory climate change pathways designed to transform and improve livelihood options.
Print communications require paper and printing facilities at much high costs while digital communication is sometimes cheaper, interactive and versatile, that is why the world is going online.
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Digital communication is inclusive of the disadvantaged and vulnerable members of the community who live in marginal environments in countries that are always affected by negative impacts of climate change.
Digital communication gives one complete power over their content. Web content is engaging and interactive, as multimedia forms like videos, music and photos can be embedded into online catalogues.
Digital communication publishers create digital content and then rethink how they can tell their stories using the latest web-technologies.
In this regard, climate change problems are such issues of concern. This means digital communication can reach a larger audience in manageable ways, including those in remote areas and on the peripheries.
Mobile phones, broadband, smartphones, tablets, laptops, telecentres, PowerPoints, videos, cameras or projectors are distributed in developing countries reaching poor communities and providing lots of potential for developmental change and livelihoods.
There has been recognition that the carbon footprint of the ICT sector, particularly the digital divide, is growing rapidly, thereby taking the world by storm and transforming the digital communication landscape.
ICTs, particularly digital media, play an important role in addressing the effects of climate change, through reaching people in the comfort of their homes, lifestyles and worldviews, among others.
Participatory videos and photographs can enchance self-esteem and can be used for confidence building as well. These increase the understanding of climate change and sustainable development issues.
Participatory methods help communities identify problems in a participatory manner as well as for signifying ownership. Participants will be in a position to tell their own stories after initial training.
Using video documentaries, participants, especially women, children, the elderly, the physically challenged and other vulnerable people, document their experiences of climate change impacts, recovery and adaptation programmes into a unified whole.
These will be interactive enough to capture human experiences and tell a climate digital story.
Women and children can also lead in story-making, data collection, interviewing and editing videos. These videos are used for awareness raising and advocacy.
Women and children can be trained to use cameras to shoot landscapes where they will be carrying out adaptation programmes like landfills, reforestation, and river or wetland reclamation.
This also includes photographing other physical features affected by climate change-related disasters.
These promote voices of the women and children in order to enhance sustainable development.
Using participatory digital photo-storytelling, women and children can be trained to use software with regards to visual tools online. By using visual online tools, this becomes important, highlighting whose climate story will be told in order to ensure that vulnerable people’s voices are considered and heard.
Digital photo-storytelling is important in creating a larger picture of how communities are being adversely affected by the impacts of climate change.
Journalists, who are good at the technical aspects of digital photo-storytelling, are also included in guiding and giving directions to these initiatives. Digital photo-storytelling is one of the many aspects of digital communication which endears itself to gender equality.
Digital photo-storytelling is necessary for monitoring and evaluation as it shows where communities have come from, where they have moved to and where they are going.
Online groups on social media, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, NewsFeed and mobile phones can sufficiently change the world when integrated with communication for development.
The change can be brought about while paying attention to global patterns of digital stratification.
Social media helps to connect all kinds of people, activities and programmes from various parts of the world.
The power of social media lies in its ability to connect people, to mediate and mobilise through social networks.
Facebook is one common feature of social media with one-third of the world’s population currently interacting on Facebook.
Facebook has connected farmers, development practitioners, information providers, donors, non-governmental organisations, government officials and departments.
Social media is interactive, cross-cutting, inclusive, empowering and networking.
One way to measure the power of social media is to assess the number of its users.
Facebook alone has more than 10 million users, while WhatsApp is even highly subscribed to.
This shows that even the marginalised and vulnerable have either access to Facebook or WhatsApp, where they can meet on online platforms, engage and interact on sustainable development issues central to their livelihoods.
In geographic information system (GIS) and geo-ethnic local media, web-based tools in developing countries are used in disaster management and climate monitoring.
GIS also monitors climate change impacts including improved information systems with emphasis on evolution of data for low lying provinces, river flows, among others.
This also helps to monitor infrastructure such as roads, bridges and buildings’ ability to withstand climate change impacts.
GIS data also increases the capacity of local stakeholders and support community rights.
Geo-ethnic local media includes specific geographical areas and populations with adaptation and sustainable development educational materials which can be accessed online written in their local languages.
The online physical features will be those that are found in their local communities.
These are the climate digital based intrinsic and extrinsic values, which are the co-benefits and dividends of digital communication media, to change lives, transform situations and build strong institutions.
