Assuming that we can all agree that climate change is a reality, and that human actions have a direct effect on it, then why is it that natural resource managers worldwide are not acting faster and more definitively to do something about it, and what can encourage them to do more? New research by the University of Cape Town, published in the journal Risk Analysis, takes a look at some of the answers. The study was conducted in East Africa, but the findings and the lessons learned can probably be applied just about anywhere in the world. There are a lot of science-based climate information services, which offer powerful tools for making decisions based on climate change. The seasonal forecasts and other materials that they produce can form the basis of climate change mitigation strategies in agriculture, health, water management, energy, and disaster risk reduction. In East Africa though, natural resource policy makers have been slow to use these services, partially because they are often difficult to understand, and also because they don't always feel relevant to local planning decisions. So, if the science isn’t enough to make people use the data to inform their decisions then what is? The study suggests that one way to encourage the policymakers in East Africa to use climate information services more often is to appeal to the motivational factors that influence their professional actions on climate change. In other words, peer pressure, ‘influencers’, and FOMO. Yes, that does all sound a bit Instagram but it seems to be the reality. The researchers found that experience with extreme weather events and ‘social norms’ - external expectations of how one is supposed to feel, behave, or think in particular situations - may play important roles in motivating professional action on climate change. “Based on our results, aligning climate services with social norms could offer low-hanging fruit for designing more effective climate services interventions,” says climate scientist Anna Steynor, head of climate services at the Climate System Analysis Group, University of Cape Town. She explains that messages such as “80 percent of urban planning professionals are using climate information in their planning” could play a strong role in encouraging the use of this information by planners who are not already using them. highlight the use of climate information among policy planners and, therefore, encourage the use of climate services by those who aren’t currently utilising them. Between September 2018 and January 2019, the team conducted structured surveys of 474 “policy decision influencers” in five East African countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. All of the respondents were involved in some way with natural resource management. The majority (71%) were employed by national and local government ministries. Others worked for trade unions, international development agencies, non-governmental organizations, research organizations, and in the private sector. Initially the participants were asked what levels of action in their policymaking they had taken to prepare for the impacts of climate change. Further questions were designed to assess how much they observed ‘societal norms’, their personal values, whether they felt that climate change would have a big impact on them personally and their communities, and personal experience of extreme weather events. The results were statistically analysed using structural equation modelling to build a conceptual model to explain professional decision making. One of the things that the model clearly shows is the important role that social norms, psychological closeness to climate change, and experience of extreme events play in motivating action. “Our model provides a framework for prioritizing the different factors that motivate adaptation action,” says Steynor. “We hope it will prompt further research on individual climate change action and encourage behavioral change among policy decision influencers in Africa.” East Africa is on the frontline of climate change, due to it’s coastal communities, high levels of poverty and a heavy reliance on subsistence farming. But surely the lessons from this study highlight simple human nature and can be applied pretty universally. Can the way to encourage more forward thinking planning for climate change mitigation really be as simple as exerting more social pressure?

Can social pressure influence climate policy decisions?

Arvīds

This feels like something we should all know without needing a research study. People want to be liked and people want to feel connected to their groups and communities.

Piri

Arvīds I guess the point of the article is about climate change actions not just in groups, but personally aswell. In my personal experiences the community and belonging to any kind of group in African countries is much more much developed comparing with Europe.

Well in general in many African countries people live with different crisis day by day, so it is a challenge with climate change together with corruption, and third parties which ones just profit not caring so much about the environment. It is a complex problem. Anyway they definitely need to find the best model how to influence the change....

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