COP30: Fund climate communication to the grassroots

Participants at a rally hold a banner with the slogan "Climate crisis does not wait for government crisis". On the occasion of COP 29 in Baku, activists from Fridays for Future demonstrate in front of the Federal Foreign Office for the expansion and strengthening of climate protection in Germany and worldwide. [AFP]

As the planet warms and extreme weather events multiply, from devastating floods in Malawi to prolonged droughts in Kenya and Mozambique, climate change is no longer a distant crisis. It is here. It is now. And it is hitting the poorest and most vulnerable communities the hardest.

Yet amid the rising temperatures, melting glaciers, and broken rainfall patterns, something critical remains frozen: funding for climate communication. Especially at the grassroots.

At every COP, from Copenhagen to Glasgow, and now heading to COP30 in Belém, Brazil, the headlines trumpet billions pledged for clean energy, resilient infrastructure, and adaptation. But beneath the diplomatic fanfare and climate finance negotiations, one truth is glaring: almost none of this money reaches community-level communication. None reaches the grandmother in Turkana, unsure of why her borehole has dried up. None reaches the fisherman in Lamu, puzzled by dwindling fish stocks. And none reaches the youth in Goma who wants to help but doesn’t know where to begin.

This is the missing link in climate action.

Climate change is a human crisis. But if people don’t understand it, if it remains a scientific abstraction, a foreign concept, a donor agenda, they will not act. They cannot adapt. They won’t resist. And they’ll never own the solutions. We must stop treating communication as a side dish in climate strategy. It must be the main course.

Right now, climate communication is broken. It’s top-down, jargon-heavy, and largely urban. Messages are crafted in air-conditioned boardrooms in capital cities and then “rolled out” with the hope that they somehow trickle down to farmers, herders, and informal workers. But information doesn’t trickle. It must be delivered, repeatedly, and in culturally relevant ways.

If we expect people to change their behaviour, to adopt solar energy, to conserve forests, to recycle waste, or to switch to climate-smart agriculture, we must invest in the storytelling that inspires such change. This means funding grassroots radio programs in local languages. Supporting village forums where elders and youth can engage meaningfully. Empowering digital creators, schoolteachers, and even religious leaders to become climate messengers in their communities.

It means recognising that a TikTok video by a climate-savvy Kenyan teenager could drive more awareness than a 200-page policy document. That a travelling theatre troupe performing a climate play in a rural market might spark more action than another high-level panel in an air-conditioned hotel.

We must also fund training for local journalists to tell climate stories from the ground up, not just relay the words of global experts but amplify the lived experiences of their people. We need mobile information units reaching nomadic communities. Interactive radio call-in shows where women ask questions and get real answers. Simple explainer videos that turn scientific data into actionable advice.

If we want tree planting drives to succeed, let’s start by explaining why trees matter to water cycles, rainfall, and soil fertility. If we want clean energy adoption to pick up, let’s speak to real dilemmas: a family choosing between a solar lamp and a meal. If we want climate finance to have a true impact, let’s dedicate part of it, not one per cent, but a meaningful share, to grassroots communication, storytelling, and community engagement.

This is not charity. This is a strategy.

Because when climate communication fails, all other efforts falter. Infrastructure sits unused. Clean cookstoves gather dust. Climate-smart seeds are rejected. The community’s voice is missing, their buy-in absent, and their participation shallow. And without the people, there is no climate solution.

We are heading into a decisive decade for the planet. COP30 could be the summit where we stop talking around communities and start talking with them. Where funding for climate communication becomes a line item in every climate budget, not an afterthought or PR stunt, but a central pillar.

Communication is the oxygen of climate action. Without it, policies remain paper promises. Investments miss their mark. And global goals become empty declarations.

We must act now. The time to fund grassroots climate communication is not tomorrow. It is today. Because the climate crisis is already here, so must be our response.

Fund climate communication to the grassroots. Not because it's trendy. Not for headlines. But because it's the only way, this fight becomes everyone's fight.

Mr. Enock Bii is the founder and CEO of ClimaVox Consult