I think the best strategy is dissemination of information through social media and the media itself. Social media platforms such as Facebook and twitter will target literates while the media platforms such as radio and television stations will address both literates and illiterates.

First is to identify what are the community's daily activities that may probably have an impact on the climate change or environment (i.e. open burning of waste). Then, investigate carefully if such activities are culturally based or not. If it is not driven by cultural practice, awareness program through mass media and education could be a good choice. If the activities are already a cultural practice, then commitment from the top management or government is necessary for driving the changes.    

Desmond Agyemang-the use of social media sounds fine but the appropriate approach to explain pertinent issues of climate change to the non-scientific community may be the problem.

Chee hung Foo,  It is true that establishing which daily practices of the community are culturally-based may be a vital step to identify a strategy to get the community members involved in aspects of climate change adaptation measures.

I think one way would be to insure that the climate change message being communicated is aligned to the interests, priorities and needs of the target communities.

We should not forget that rural communities have been adapting to different environmental changes because they understand it is for their own survival.

studies show that top down approaches to implement adaptation projects will definitely be met with some resistance like any other project; incorporation of local/indigenous adaptation knowledge will also make it more acceptable.

Aligning the climate change information to the interests of the target group is a good approach; I agree with you Dagmawi Abegaz

I also agree with Dagmawi Abegaz. Affected stakeholders should be included. Incorporating top-down organisation members in a focus group could also be interesting depending on your objectives but special care should be paid in order not to block other members' responses. I recommend you Newing, (2011) book about conducting research from a social perspective. It has been really helpful for me when I had this kind of doubts.

Thank you Amaia Albizua; I would be grateful if you would provide us with the full reference detail of the citation Newing (2011) based on its relevance for the subject matter.

Yes, of course.

Newing, H., Eagle, C.M., Puri, R.K., Watson, C.W., 2011. Conducting research in conservation: social science methods and practice. Routledge.

I hope it is helpful.

Thank you Amaia Albizua for the useful reference

Hi Charles, 

Really interesting question, thanks for this!

I'd build on Dagmawi and suggest that beyond alignment, effective communication is greatly facilitated by having local voices and understandings (Traditional Ecological Knowledge) integral to the production of climate change knowledge and science form the onset. Having this local 'language' embedded in the scientific analysis, the need for translation of scientific messages later on is reduced. 

I really like the work of Emma Visman on this who is a visiting Scholar at King's College London. Links to a recent paper and her publications page below. 

http://odihpn.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/NP_76_Annex_string.pdf

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/geography/people/researchstaff/Emma-Visman/Emma-Visman.aspx

Hope it helps!

David 

Yes David Matyas, the incorporation of relevant  and common "easy-to-understand language" is indeed required to bridge the gap between the scientists and the non-scientific community on issues of implementation of climate change adaptation measures. I am also grateful to you David Matyas for providing us with links to the relevant informative materials.  Once again thanks.

David Matyas thanks for the links.

I also found this great link about communicating climate change (I think it got redirected from David's link).

http://dialoguesforresilience.tumblr.com/

cheers!

Dear Charles

I agree, one can use the adopted communication strategy. I would also prefer to know the demand and options of the adaptation and what the community want. I feel this must be investigated first scientifically.

I am enclosing one of my paper, though indirectly may serve the purpose. 

Rajiv

Article Empirical assessment of adaptation to climate change impact ...

Dear Rajiv Pandey, thank you for providing us the link to your publication which is quite relevant for the subject matter.

Dear John Munro, I totally agree with you on the lack of skill for effective communication about climate change to the public. One way would be to come up with an appropriate language that can be clear even for those with high school level of education to comprehend climate change. However, this may not be an easy task because the so-called appropriate language has to be developed without overwhelming the non-scientific community with a 'zoomed-in' complexity details of the climate change theory (something that does not seem straight-forward). Of course, as you also suggested, it still remains a challenge that the climatologists have to attempt to address.

I would say, use the communities own experience of climate variability and change together with some science to explain why it's happening. I would also recommend reading some of the literature on community based adaptation. For example, 

Article i>Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change: Scaling It U...

Thank you Ali Hendessi for providing us with the relevant document.

I think all the public in your area has already experienced the effects of climate change, they know about it and also feel the changes.

Ask them if they feel the air to be warmer now, more frequent rain or less frequent rain, stronger winds, more powerful storms, more lightning, do they feel achy bones (arthritis) from more humidity in the air ?

If they experienced / felt some changes, then what they need to do is avoid using gasoline / diesel products, if possible.

They will understand.

From my perspective, we as researchers need to change the way we think and act. For instance, we need to rethink who has the power to explain the meanings of climate change, and its impact on communities; who should have to part of the decision-making; who will take the responsibilities. For me, climate change solutions should be lead by the local community, their knowledge, and practice. If the local community does not have meaningful engagement in climate change solutions, none of the scientific efforts may work. Many "technological" research pushes back the local community, their traditional knowledge in climate change solutions decision-making price. Therefore, this is high time to decolonize our ways of knowing and doing before we act further. We need a transsystmatic approach that can collaborate all forms of knowledge, and create meaningful engagement.

To bring a tangible solution to the challenges imposed by climate change, the starting point should always be the farmer. Government agricultural policies and investment strategies must play a central role to tackle the climate crisis at both the farmer and the farm level.

Dear Dr. Ranjan Datta, really thank you for your insightful and valuable responses.

Would you please put your expertise at the following link? Thank you!!!

https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_researchers_farmers_government_and_NGOs_can_help_fight_climate_change_in_2050_and_beyond