Is Media Communication Solving Environmental Challenges: The Case of Buea, South West Region of Cameroon

Mbunya Francis Nkemnyi^1, , Fualefeh Ndobegang², Leonard Itayi Chirenje³ and Naseli Okha Dioh¹

¹Resource Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development (RCESD), Cameroon. P.O Box 30, Buea, South West Region, Cameroon

²Catholic University Institute of Buea (CUIB), P.O Box 563, South West Region Cameroon

³Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, Great Zimbabwe University, P.O Box 1235, Masvingo, Zimbabwe

Cite this paper:
Mbunya Francis Nkemnyi, Fualefeh Ndobegang, Leonard Itayi Chirenje and Naseli Okha Dioh. Is Media Communication Solving Environmental Challenges: The Case of Buea, South West Region of Cameroon. American Journal of Environmental Protection. 2016; 4(2):48-54. doi: 10.12691/env-4-2-2

Abstract

This study assessed the influence of media communication on environmental behavior in Buea, Cameroon. Effective media communication has the potential of motivating friendly environmental habits. However, media communication approaches to influence effective conscious environmental behavior is still a challenge. This study was conducted in Buea, South West Region. Mixed methodology including household questionnaires, in-depth interviews and field observations were used. The main findings revealed that media communication on environmental issues is still conducted merely as a public obligation rather as a tool to influence behavorial change towards the environment. Moreover, media communication was revealed to be very expensive for individuals and institutions that are willing to promote environmental education through the media. Despite the increase in media presence in the study area, media communication has not been able to capture and utilize approaches that can lead to interactive communication, and influence positive environmental habits. There is therefore an urgent need to explore detail strategies that conform to local ethics and has the potential to initiate interactive environmental communication.

Keywords:
environmental habits media communication environmental protection local knowledge attitude and perception Cameroon

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References:

[1]	R. S. Kovats, “Global health and global environmental governance - Research for policy,” Glob. Environ. Chang., vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 1-2, 2012.
[2]	J. Elliott, An Introduction to Sustainable Development, Fourth Edi. New York, USA: Routledge, 2012.
[3]	M. F. Nkemnyi, A. de Haas, N. D. Etiendem, and F. Ndobegang, “Making hard choices: balancing indigenous communities livelihood and Cross River gorilla conservation in the Lebialem–Mone Forest landscape, Cameroon,” Env. Dev Sustain, vol. 15, pp. 841-857, 2013.
[4]	L. Porter-Bolland, E. a. Ellis, M. R. Guariguata, I. Ruiz-Mallén, S. Negrete-Yankelevich, and V. Reyes-García, “Community managed forests and forest protected areas: An assessment of their conservation effectiveness across the tropics,” For. Ecol. Manage., vol. 268, pp. 6-17, Mar. 2012.
[5]	Y. T. Tegegne, M. Lindner, K. Fobissie, and M. Kanninen, “Evolution of drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in the Congo Basin forests: Exploring possible policy options to address forest loss,” Land use policy, vol. 51, no. 2016, pp. 312–324, 2016.
[6]	S. Federici, F. N. Tubiello, M. Salvatore, H. Jacobs, and J. Schmidhuber, “New estimates of CO 2 forest emissions and removals: 1990-2015,” For. Ecol. Manage., vol. 352, pp. 89-98, 2015.
[7]	C. B. Barrett, A. J. Travis, and P. Dasgupta, “On biodiversity conservation and poverty traps.,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A., vol. 108, no. 34, pp. 13907–12, Aug. 2011.
[8]	R. S. Mbatu, “Domestic and international forest regime nexus in Cameroon: An assessment of the effectiveness of REDD+ policy design strategy in the context of the climate change regime,” For. Policy Econ., vol. 52, no. 2015, pp. 46-56, 2015.
[9]	M. L. E. Steiner Davis, C. Tenopir, S. Allard, and M. T. Frame, “Facilitating access to biodiversity information: a survey of users’ needs and practices.,” Environ. Manage., vol. 53, no. 3, pp. 690-701, Mar. 2014.
[10]	J. C. Young, K. a. Waylen, S. Sarkki, S. Albon, I. Bainbridge, E. Balian, J. Davidson, D. Edwards, R. Fairley, C. Margerison, D. McCracken, R. Owen, C. P. Quine, C. Stewart-Roper, D. Thompson, R. Tinch, S. Hove, and A. Watt, “Improving the science-policy dialogue to meet the challenges of biodiversity conservation: having conversations rather than talking at one-another,” Biodivers. Conserv., vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 387-404, Jan. 2014.
[11]	S. W. Margles, R. B. Peterson, J. Ervin, and B. a Kaplin, “Conservation without borders: building communication and action across disciplinary boundaries for effective conservation,” Environ. Manage., vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 1-4, Jan. 2010.
[12]	A. Agrawal and E. Ostrom, “Political Science and Conservation Biology: a Dialog of the Deaf,” Conserv. Biol., vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 681-682, Jun. 2006.
[13]	M. F. Nkemnyi, T. De Herdt, H. M. Semakula, and F. D. Nkenglefac, “Boosting Knowledge Through Awareness Raising: An Underexploited Opportunity for Community Forestry in South West Cameroon,” Environ. Nat. Resour. Res., vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 39-50, 2014.
[14]	A. Jiménez, I. Iniesta-Arandia, M. Muñoz-Santos, B. Martín-López, S. K. Jacobson, and J. Benayas, “Typology of Public Outreach for Biodiversity Conservation Projects in Spain.,” Conserv. Biol., vol. 00, no. 0, pp. 1-11, Jan. 2014.
[15]	V. N. Cheo, “Policy and Environmental Communication in Mitigation of Non-Sustainable Forest Exploitation In cameroon: An Impact Assessment of Anglophone Cameroon,” University of Technology Cottbus, 2010.
[16]	E. Ostrom, “A diagnostic approach for going beyond panaceas.,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A., vol. 104, no. 39, pp. 15181-7, Sep. 2007.
[17]	Robert Cox, Environmental Communication and the Public Sphere, Third Edit. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2013.
[18]	M. L. Gore and B. a. Knuth, “Mass Media Effect on the Operating Environment of a Wildlife-Related Risk-Communication Campaign,” J. Wildl. Manage., vol. 73, no. 8, pp. 1407-1413, Nov. 2009.
[19]	A. J. Schneller and A. Irizarry, “Imaging conservation: Sea turtle murals and their effect on community pro-environmental attitudes in Baja California Sur, Mexico,” Ocean Coast. Manag., vol. 89, pp. 100-111, Mar. 2014.
[20]	A. Anderson, Media, Culture And The Environment, vol. 2013. Routledge, 2013.
[21]	J. Sayer, C. Harcourt, and N. . Mark, The conservation atlas of tropical forests: Africa. United Kingdom: IUCN, 1992.
[22]	D. S. Nsagha, J. Atashili, P. N. Fon, E. A. Tanue, C. W. Ayima, and O. D. Kibu, “Assessing the risk factors of cholera epidemic in the Buea Health District of Cameroon.,” BMC Public Health, vol. 15, no. 1, p. 1128, 2015.
[23]	E. N. Takem, E. A. Achidi, and P. M. Ndumbe, “Use of intermittent preventive treatment for malaria by pregnant women in Buea, Cameroon,” Acta Trop., vol. 112, no. 1, pp. 54-58, 2009.
[24]	S. Kvale and S. Brinkmann, Interviews: Learning the craft of qualitative research interviewing, 2nd ed. Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore: Sage Publications, 2009.
[25]	R. Kumar, Research methodology: A step by step guide for beginners, 4th ed. New Delhi: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2014.
[26]	J. Mason, Qualitative Researching, 2nd ed. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: SAGE Publications, 2002.
[27]	M. Crang and I. Cook, “Analyzing field methods,” in Doing Ethnographies, London, California, New Delhi, Singapore: Sage Publications, 2007, p. 244.
[28]	N. Shrestha, “Education and Communication For Biodiversity Conservation in Nepal,” Kathmandu, 2005.
[29]	T. Apte, An Activist Approach to Biodiversity Planning: A handbook of participatory tools used to prepare India’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, vol. 1. London: International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), 2005.
[30]	B. R. Sthapit, M. P. Upadhyay, P. K. Shrestha, and D. I. Jarvis, “On-farm conservation of agricultural biodiversity in Nepal,” in Managing diversity and promoting its benefits, 2005, vol. II, no. August.
[31]	M. Hockings, S. Stolton, F. Leverington, N. Dudley, J. Courrau, and P. Valentine, Evaluating Effectiveness: A framework for assessing management effectiveness of protected areas. 2nd edition, 2nd ed., no. 14. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: IUCN, 2006.
[32]	D. Bickford, M. Rose, C. Posa, L. Qie, A. Campos-arceiz, and E. P. Kudavidanage, “Science communication for biodiversity conservation,” Biol. Conserv., vol. 151, no. 1, pp. 74-76, 2012.
[33]	F. Ölander and J. Thøgersen, “Informing Versus Nudging in Environmental Policy,” J. Consum. Policy, Mar. 2014.
[34]	Y. Meinard and F. Quétier, “Experiencing Biodiversity as a Bridge over the Science-Society Communication Gap.,” Conserv. Biol., vol. 00, no. 0, pp. 1-8, Dec. 2013.