Green voices: Speeches by Tanzanian journalists and women leaders on climate change

Abstract

Green voices wants to strengthen and make visible women's fight against climate change. We present here the results attained once the first phase of the project has been completed. Arising from the exploratory mission to the field was the idea that the whole society is claiming for an increase in public awareness on climate change in Tanzania; from the analysis of the discourses of women leaders and women journalists we infer that the effort to raise awareness should be aimed at increasing consciousness as well as knowledge. In the rural areas there is less awareness on climate change even if it is rural population that is experiencing the negative impact of climate change in agriculture to the extent that even food security is endangered. This is related to the low level of education of rural people as well as to their difficulties to access the adequate information. Our empirical work also confirmed that the most effective way to enhance awareness is communication. There is the need, particularly for rural areas, to convey messages (via community radio and mobile phones) that connect causes with effects, ie waste of natural resources with natural disasters and impoverishment, as well as to take initiatives in the local communities for sharing good practices in mitigation and adaptation.