By Juliet Nanfuka |
The Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), in partnership with UNESCO, is launching a new project to address the growing challenge of climate change disinformation and strengthen information integrity in the public sphere.
At a time when false and misleading narratives are weakening public trust and distorting public understanding of the climate crisis, the initiative will support fact-based public discourse and strengthen the ability of journalists and civil society actors to engage with climate issues using credible information.
Reliable climate information is essential to informed public debate and effective climate action. Yet journalists, content creators, and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) working on climate and environmental issues often lack the resources and skills needed to verify information, identify disinformation and effectively communicate accurate findings to the public.
CIPESA’s research has documented some of these challenges. Journalists and activists working on climate-related issues, including environment, land and extractives, face significant information gaps and have to navigate disinformation and misinformation campaigns, often with limited avenues to independently verify information.
The initiative recognises that public communication relies on facts and the ability of credible voices to deliver information. The project is supported by the UNESCO-led Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change, which was established to investigate, expose, and dismantle disinformation related to climate change.
The project will respond to these challenges by combining research, capacity building, and public communication. Research will map how climate disinformation spreads across African digital ecosystems, who drives it, and what tactics they use. Findings will inform a Fact-checking Masterclass at the upcoming 2026 Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa, an online training for journalists and civil society actors, and a communications campaign aimed at strengthening public awareness of climate disinformation and promoting credible sources of information.
This approach builds on the Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change, which commits its signatories to protect information integrity on climate change at international, national, and local levels. It also reflects the broader United Nations Global Principles for Information Integrity, which envision “an information ecosystem that delivers choice, freedom, privacy and safety for all,” and support those working to share facts in the public interest.
Reporting on climate change in Africa is increasingly taking place in a difficult information environment. Journalists, activists and human rights defenders covering environmental, land and extractives issues face surveillance, censorship, online harassment and coordinated disinformation campaigns. CIPESA’s research has documented these risks, as well as the limited digital security resources available to many of those doing this work.
The project will focus on Uganda and Ethiopia, both of which are experiencing a rise in misleading narratives related to climate change in their digital ecosystems. These narratives frequently revolve around issues such as deforestation, dam and water system developments, droughts, landslides, oil and gas exploration.
The project’s research will also track the information environment, including the public positions and communications of African governments ahead of the 31st Session of the Conference of Parties (COP31) scheduled for November 2026 in Ankara, Türkiye. The conference brings together nearly 200 nations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to negotiate climate action, set emission-reduction targets, and coordinate policies to limit global warming.
Looking further ahead, Ethiopia’s hosting of the 32nd session of the (COP32) in 2027, will bring the global climate conversation back to Africa for the fifth time after Kenya (2006), South Africa (2011), Morocco (2016), and Egypt (2022). This makes the CIPESA-UNESCO partnership particularly timely. As technology increasingly shapes how people access, interpret and contest information about the environment, there is a growing need to understand the evolving relationship between digital platforms, climate narratives, and the integrity of public debate.