Stakeholders' Strategies and Channels of Climate Communication in the Bamenda Highlands, Cameroon

Abstract

This paper assesses the current communication strategies and channels used by different stakeholders in disseminating climate information in the Bamenda Highlands of Cameroon. The assessment goes beyond cataloguing what exists to examine whether the identified strategies and channels are capable of communicating climate variability and change information effectively. Climate variability and change information is understood here as scientifically grounded content on shifting rainfall patterns, temperature trends, increasing frequency of extreme weather events, and the consequences of these shifts for agricultural systems and community livelihoods. Drawing on a mixed-methods design that combined a stratified survey of 408 respondents, 30 key-informant interviews, eight focus-group discussions and 45 structured field observations across eight Sub-Divisions (Bamenda I–III, Kumbo Central, Nkambe Central, Santa, Oku and Fundong), the study maps participatory methods, media channels, institutional actors and communication frequency. Focus-group discussions dominate participatory approaches, yet function mainly as general environmental sensitisation rather than structured climate-science communication. Heat maps, a correlation matrix, labelled scatter plots and radar profiles of the eight Sub-Divisions show that regular programming co-varies with private weather services and independent media, that reactive communication is the statistical inverse of that cluster, and that mobile applications substitute for radio–television combinations in the most infrastructure-poor settings. Citizen-science initiatives remain under-utilised despite their direct relevance to local observation and monitoring. Radio, often combined with television or mobile applications, is the principal channel; dedicated climate-variability content is limited even in the best-performing programmes. Local NGOs are the most visible stakeholders but operate largely in isolation from government meteorological services, private weather companies and academic institutions, and three Sub-Divisions have no independent media outlet at all. Communication is predominantly reactive (when the need arises), with regular monthly and daily programming remaining marginal even in the best-resourced administrative centres. The findings reveal systemic fragmentation and call for a Regional Climate Communication Coordination Platform under the Ministry of Environment, Protection of Nature and Sustainable Development to serve as a network administrative organisation capable of aligning strategies, channels, and content standards.