The Klimablog www.cambioclimatico-bolivia.org: Personal Reflections After 5 Years of Blogging on Climate Change from, for and About Bolivia

Abstract

Over the past five years, I have blogged about climate change with weekly updates, touching on scientific and political issues mostly in Bolivia but also including topics from global research. This paper is a personal account of this experience and is intended to illustrate the process of climate change communication in one of the poorest countries in South America by means of a specialized blog. It gives account of the motivation for creating the “Klimablog”, describes its basic characteristics, leads through its development and highlights its main achievements over the past years. It is a personal account, and thus purely testimonial, without intention to contribute to theoretical discussions on the role of the internet in climate change communication. How it all started—Living in La Paz and working on Sustainable Mountain Development meant that climate change was a daily presence. Information in Spanish, however, was very limited. So I began reading scientific papers published in international journals with the intention of translating and publishing the contents for a Spanish-speaking audience. The idea was to reach fellow scientists, decision makers, and a generally interested public. As expressed in the first blog post, the Klimablog was created as “a space in the internet dedicated to all things climate change in Bolivia. The blog facilitates access to reliable and up-to-date scientific information and also to information and commentary about climate change policy at international and national levels”. The blog posts follow a standardized format of two to three pages in length, two or three illustrations (photos or graphics), with a two-paragraph introduction and numerous links to other websites. There are also listed primary sources of information, providing transparency and the chance to further pursue any given topic. All articles remain online and may be accessed via a search function, thus building an archive on climate change information. The Klimablog over the years has grown from a few thousand to presently 90,000 visits per month, and it is now a major reference on climate change related issues in Bolivia.

Full article prepared for the Handbook of Climate Change Communication