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The Role of Risk Perceptions in Climate Change Communication: A Media Analysis on the UK Winter Floods 2015/2016

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Handbook of Climate Change Communication: Vol. 2

Part of the book series: Climate Change Management ((CCM))

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Abstract

In the winter 2015/2016 a series of storms resulted in widespread flooding in northern England, damaging hundreds of properties, disrupting transport and exposing public contempt of flood risk management. The flooding was widely covered in the media. This chapter develops a methodological framework to conceptualise factors influencing risk perception related to flood events and discusses the media’s role as communicator of climate change and related risks. We demonstrate how understanding the factors that affect risk perception, including how engineered flood defences might distort risk perception and therefore risk preparedness, can be utilised by the authorities to deploy more effective risk management policy and increase individual and community preparedness. Given that increased flood risk due to climate change is a reality, and that there is evidence that this increased risk is not yet understood by the public, nor addressed by the media, we suggest that a change is needed. Not only is there a need for more dialogue between those at risk and the flood risk management authorities and between experts and the public and the media and the public, but also a need for improved risk communication delivered with greater understanding of how at-risk communities perceive risk.

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Acknowledgements

This project was funded from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 659449 and from the School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds’s Research Experience Placement scheme. Jouni Paavola also acknowledges the support of the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy (CCCEP).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth and Environment, Maths/Earth and Environment Building, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

    Viktoria Cologna, Rosalind H. Bark & Jouni Paavola

Authors
  1. Viktoria Cologna
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  2. Rosalind H. Bark
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  3. Jouni Paavola
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rosalind H. Bark .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Department of Forestry and Management, Democritus University of Thrace, Orestiada, Greece

    Evangelos Manolas

  3. Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Anabela Marisa Azul

  4. Department of Biology & CESAM, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    Ulisses M. Azeiteiro

  5. Manchester Museum, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

    Henry McGhie

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Cologna, V., Bark, R.H., Paavola, J. (2018). The Role of Risk Perceptions in Climate Change Communication: A Media Analysis on the UK Winter Floods 2015/2016. In: Leal Filho, W., Manolas, E., Azul, A., Azeiteiro, U., McGhie, H. (eds) Handbook of Climate Change Communication: Vol. 2. Climate Change Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70066-3_18

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