Proposing a Communication Framework for the Public Administration of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Policies and Action Plans in Nigeria

Abstract

The study proposes a communications framework for disseminating action plans and polices relating to mitigation of and adaptation to the impacts of climate change to relevant stakeholders. This is viewed from the point of efficiency in public administration of climate change policies to the numerous stakeholders who must support the Federal Government in attaining its Nationally Determined Commitments (NDCs) to the UNFCCC Paris Agreement of 2015 to which Nigeria is a signatory. The study is exploratory in nature, using secondary data from various published and documented sources. The study presupposes that the public sector has the largest contribution in the efforts towards boosting mitigation and adaptation to climate change impacts, hence the focus on public administration. Relying on qualitative data and document analysis, the study concludes that the challenges of climate change are real and will continue to escalate, and the efforts of government in mitigating the effects of climate change on the populace can only be meaningful when the people participate fully in the developed plans and policies to scale down the effects at all relevant levels (from different communities to the LGAs, States and National governments). The study concludes that, in isolation, the cognitive, experiential and normative approaches are unlikely to induce behavioural change needed for effective adoption of communication of climate change action plans and policies. Instead, the study suggest that future interventions are more likely to reduce the gap between public communication and behavioural change when public campaigns: (1) effectively integrate cognitive, experiential and normative aspects of human behaviour in their message design; (2) make the climate change context explicit; and, (3) foster a strong link between the behaviours that need to be changed and their psychological determinants.