Journal article
The discourses of climate change science: Scientific reporting, climate negotiations and the case of Papua New Guinea
Global Environmental Change, Vol.54, pp.78-87
2019
Abstract
This paper analyses climate science as a discourse to reveal how it enables and constrains climate change negotiations and action. Focusing on long-term outcomes projected in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fifth Assessment Report and the World Bank's "Turn Down the Heat" reports, this paper examines processes of discourse structuration and institutionalization to identify the dominant discourses which frame climate action. We trace the dominant discourses identified in the scientific reports - Survivalism, Ecological Modernisation and Economic Rationalism - through the Paris Agreement and selected Leader Statements and Intended Nationally Determined Contributions from COP21. From the 24 states included in this analysis, Papua New Guinea (PNG) is developed as a case study to investigate the hybridity and institutionalization of discourses. Even though PNG's rhetoric and commitments at COP21 express Survivalism, the state's policy frameworks rarely move beyond solutions found in Economic Rationalism and Ecological Modernisation. This suggests that states strategically adopt hybrid discourses drawn from climate science in line with their positionality, political economy and interests. Understanding how discourses drawn from climate science manifest in national policies has significant implications not only for how science is communicated at the international level but also for understanding different state positions in the global climate governance regime.
Details
- Title
- The discourses of climate change science: Scientific reporting, climate negotiations and the case of Papua New Guinea
- Authors
- S Pascoe (Author) - University of MelbourneShannon Brincat (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts, Business and LawAshleigh Croucher (Author) - University of Queensland
- Publication details
- Global Environmental Change, Vol.54, pp.78-87
- Publisher
- Pergamon
- Date published
- 2019
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.11.010
- ISSN
- 0959-3780
- Organisation Unit
- Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre; Tropical Forests and People Research Centre; School of Social Sciences - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; Forest Research Institute; School of Law and Society; Sustainability Research Cluster
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99451131302621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Domestic collaboration
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- Environmental Sciences
- Environmental Studies
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