Media(ted) Climate Change in Africa and Public Engagement: A Systematic Review of Relevant Literature

In Africa and elsewhere, climate change is a socio-political challenge. The required changes linked to addressing climate change risks in terms of mitigation and adaptation measures relate to decision-making processes as found in socio-political systems where debate and discourse are unavoidable. There is a burgeoning literature on media representation of climate change documenting how various societies are making sense of climate change issues via public discourse. However, global reviews suggest a dearth of such studies on Africa. Importantly, there is no empirical information on the extent of the research paucity and the dynamics of research on public discourse on climate change in the region. This paper presents a systematic review of literature on media(ted) climate change communication in Africa and describes the extent of growth and diversity in the field. It also probes whether the emerging field is paying attention to any contribution from Africa's theoretical lenses. Results suggest there is a pale picture of the understanding of what communication effort is underway to get Africans to engage with climate change issues via the media. The study's report is useful to policymakers, researchers, climate change communicators and organisations interested in bridging the value-gap in climate change governance.