I have been lately following all the buzz related to the long-awaited COP 26 that will take place from 31 Oct to 12 Nov in Glasgow. The aim of the summit is to bring parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
In fact, the priority for the COP 26 is to reach agreement in the negotiations related to carbon markets, countries’ transparency, and governments’ commitment to keep 1.5 degrees alive. However, when people talk about fighting climate change, translation and multilingual communication are often left to fall between the cracks. This is notwithstanding the fact that language services have always been crucial to climate change negotiations and actions.
This article will tackle the importance of translating and localizing climate change communication to advocate for the environmental issues that face our planet and to mainstream the scientific narrative for effective solutions and better disaster risk education.
Uniting the world to tackle climate change[1][through translation]
Climate change will spare no one and everyone will be affected in some way or another. However, the reality is that some will face greater challenges than others. In fact, developed countries have the necessary financial resources and infrastructure to reduce their exposure to natural disasters.
On the other hand, developing countries and the Least Developed Countries Group (LDCs) that consist of the 47 poorest countries in the world, which contribute the least to climate change, suffer from its ever-increasing impacts. LDCs are land-locked countries, archipelagos, and low-lying regions and are home to one billion people throughout Africa, Asia-Pacific, and the Caribbean, living in extreme poverty. Not only do they represent highly vulnerable areas, but they are ill-equipped to deal with environmental disasters and subsequent humanitarian crises.
For instance, according to the LDC Climate Change Initiative small-island States, including the Caribbean islands, are amongst the countries which are most vulnerable to climate change impacts. Climate variability and change is already being observed in the region, including warming of atmospheric and sea surface temperatures; sea-level rise; and an increase in extreme weather events. Rain precipitation is expected to decrease. Some current impacts include coral bleaching, beach erosion, decreased freshwater stocks, changes in fish species, loss of land and forests, and an increase in vectorborne diseases, including malaria. Climate change in the Caribbean brings an increased risk of loss of infrastructure and loss of life.
It goes without saying that when it comes to international dialogue, translation and interpretation are the bridges that make international cooperation possible since the dawn of time. However, getting everyone around the same table does not necessarily mean reaching a consensus due to different political and economic interests. Here comes the role of cross-cultural and cross-linguistic communication which serves as a mediator.
As a matter of fact, the way we express things and the language we choose to support our narrative on climate change have inevitably an impact on how people perceive things, especially if it is related to an immediate life-threatening issue such as global warming for example. So, if we speak to industries, governments, affected and vulnerable communities…etc using a language they understand, we will have a better chance of getting our message through and making a difference. Any worldwide solution on the ground does require us to communicate in national languages or, better yet, local dialects. Of course, English is spoken worldwide, but we tend to forget that Mandarin is the second most spoken language around the world as stated by Visual Capitalist, even though some statistics show it is the first most spoken one with Hindi in third position and Bengali in seventh.
One example is the Paris Agreement that was negotiated by 196 parties at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference and published in all six official United Nations (UN) languages: English, Spanish, French, Chinese, Arabic, and Russian. The intention was clearly to facilitate its worldwide dissemination. The role of translators and interpreters was crucial to every phase of the project. Starting from the translation and multilingual transcription of numerous scientific research, evidence, speeches as well as meetings notes related to the effects of climate change to interpreting during high-level negotiations. But what about Hindi and Bengali, knowing that one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change according to Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (sedac), is South Asia.
Also, the Morningside Translations article on The Role of Translation in Fighting Climate Change states that “multilingual dissemination of research has become an increasingly critical factor in keeping people alive.” They also mention the importance of understanding the recipient’s “intrinsic cultural perspectives, economics, and politics — which are critical for convincing local populations to implement changes.” The article highlighted Ecolinguistics as a mean “to investigate the role of language in the development and possible solution of ecological and environmental problems.”
To conclude, whatever solution the international community will agree upon in its fight against climate change, efficient multilingual communication will always be fundamental. Inclusion of all voices with all their differences is the first step towards preserving our planet for future generations.
[1] COP 26 Slogan https://ukcop26.org/
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