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Reprint 1235 Communicating Climate Change Messages in Hong Kong Linus YEUNG Hon-Yin & Sandy SONG Man-Nuen the 44Th Confere

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Reprint 1235 Communicating Climate Change Messages in Hong Kong Linus YEUNG Hon-Yin & Sandy SONG Man-Nuen the 44Th Confere 5HSULQW &RPPXQLFDWLQJ&OLPDWH&KDQJH0HVVDJHV,Q+RQJ.RQJ /LQXV<(81*+RQ\LQ 6DQG\621*0DQNXHQ 7KHWK&RQIHUHQFHRQ%URDGFDVW0HWHRURORJ\ $PHULFDQ0HWHRURORJLFDO6RFLHW\ $XVWLQ7H[DV86$ -XQH AMS 44th Conference on Broadcast Meteorology, Session 4 - 15 June 2016 - Austin, Texas 4.2 COMMUNICATING CLIMATE CHANGE MESSAGES IN HONG KONG Linus H.Y. Yeung & Sandy M.K. Song Hong Kong Observatory, Hong Kong, China 1. BACKGROUND presenters or broadcasters in partnership with cli- mate change scientists could therefore communi- The 5th Assessment Report of the Intergovern- cate climate change messages to the public most mental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has con- effectively. cluded that warming of the climate system is une- quivocal and it is extremely likely that human influ- Throughout the years, TV is recogniZed in reg- ence has been the dominant cause of the observed ular public opinion survey as the most popular warming since the mid-20th century. Yet how to get channel for the general public to receive weather the message across to the mostly unsuspecting information, and HKO has been producing weather populace in a meaningful manner remains a chal- programmes hosted b\ +.2·V SURIHVVLRQDO PHWH lenge, particularly for most of the people in Hong orologists in collaboration with local TV companies Kong who are urban dwellers living in protected since 1987. Two major types of TV programmes environment and working in air-conditioned build- are produced on a routine basis: (i) morning and ings. evening TV weather shows collectively known as ´:HDWKHU2Q-$LUµSURJUDPPHVand (ii) the weekly As the weather authority in Hong Kong, the educational TV programme series FDOOHG´&RRO0HW Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) has taken up the 6WXIIµ (CMS) covering a diversity of topics ranging challenge to promote climate change education from weather, climate, climate change, earth sci- through various activities as presented in Section 3 ences to astronomy. The broadcast details can be below. Apart from education, HKO keeps climate found on the ´:HDWKHU2Q-$LUµwebpage (Ref. [6]). records for more than 130 years and conducts cli- HKO also conducts central news briefing on a need mate studies and climate change research with basis during tropical cyclone and other inclement major results pubOLVKHGRQOLQHDW+.2·VZHEVLWH (Ref. weather situations with senior officers presenting [1]-[2]). HKO also translates such scientific re- various warning messages as one single authorita- search results for the benefits of collaborative part- tive voice. ners and stakeholders on climate change by providing inputs to strategic planning, e.g. the Besides local TV channels, all video pro- ´Hong Kong Climate Change Report 2015µRIWKH grammes produced by HKO are also broadcast on Environment Bureau (Ref. [3] DQG ´+RQJ .RQJ YouTube (Ref. [7]) for free viewing by members of the Climate ResiliHQFH 5RDGPDS IRU %XVLQHVVµ RI WKH public. The video programmes are also accessible Business Environment Council (Ref. [4]) in Hong WKURXJK WKH ´0\2EVHUYDWRU\µ PRELOH DSS devel- Kong. As one of the government departments of oped and provided free of charge by the Observa- the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region tory. Messages will also be posted through differ- (HKSARG), HKO actively supports the policies and ent social media platforms, including Twitter, Weibo actions in climate mitigation, adaptation and resili- and WeChat, whenever there is update on its ence undertaken and coordinated by the govern- YouTube channel. On project basis, HKO has ment's high-level Steering Committee on Climate produced other in-depth video programmes through Change. partnership with media professionals. Section 3 below describes in details how such video pro- Visual elements in general, video in particular, grammes help communicate climate change mes- offer an intuitive and yet powerful means for com- sages to the public. munication. Use of weather graphics and TV presentation are amongst the many talents of 2. CLIMATE CHANGE IN HONG KONG weather broadcasters. As recognized by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), weather Since the late 19th century, Hong Kong has presenters are natural communicators, have large been experiencing a significant warming trend. As and dedicated audiences, are generally liked and sumPDUL]HGLQ+.2·VSDPSKOHWRQFOLPDWHFKDQJH respected, and are skilled in explaining the weather (Ref. [8]), both global warming and effects of local and extremes through which people experience urbaniZation contribute to the warming, with the climate variability and change (Ref. [5]). Weather latter estimated to contribute up to 50% of the warming. Page 1/5 AMS 44th Conference on Broadcast Meteorology, Session 4 - 15 June 2016 - Austin, Texas Fig. 1 Annual mean temperature recorded at HKO headquarters (1885-2015). At HKO headquarters, temperature readings are available since 1885, except for a break during Fig. 2 Changes in the annual number of hot nights, very hot days and World War II from 1940 to 1946. As shown in Fig. cold days based on temperature recorded at HKO headquarters. 1, there has been an average rise of 0.12°C per decade in the annual mean temperature from 1885 As summarized in HKO·s climate change to 2015. The rate of increase in average temper- pamphlet ´+RQJ .RQJ LQ D :DUPLQJ :RUOGµ (Ref. ature has increased in the latter half of the 20th [8]), a rise of 1.5 to 3.5°C (relative to 1986-2005) century, reaching 0.17°C per decade during in the decade of 2091-2100 is projected for Hong 1986-2015. In fact, 2015 was the warmest year Kong, assuming that the emission reductions as in Hong Kong on record with an annual mean agreed at COP21 could be achieved. Even then, temperature of 24.2 degrees, 0.9 degrees above the annual rainfall in Hong Kong is expected to the 1981-2010 normal, and 18 high temperature generally increase towards the end of this century records were broken during the year (Ref. [9]). and the occurrence of extreme rainfall will become Over the last century, the numbers of hot nights more frequent. The mean sea level in Hong Kong (daily minimum temSHUDWXUH& DQGYHU\KRW and over its adjacent waters is expected to rise fur- days (daily maximum temSHUDWXUH& LQ+RQJ ther in the 21st century, enhancing the storm surge Kong have increased by manifold while the number threat brought by tropical cyclones. of cold days (daily minimum temperaWXUH& has decreased significantly, as shown in Fig. 2. To be prepared for future haZards and impacts as a result of climate change, government depart- As shown in Fig. 3, extreme precipitation events ments in Hong Kong have taken actions with part- have become more frequent. The hourly rainfall ners and stakeholders in mitigation and adaptation record at HKO headquarters was broken several measures to enhance the city·V resilience. Fig. 5 times in the last few decades, whereas it used to take and Fig. 6 show the works done respectively by the several decades to break the record in the past. Civil Engineering and Development Department The mean sea level in the Victoria Harbour of Hong Kong as plotted in Fig. 4 also reflects an unambig- uous rise since 1954. Fig. 3 +.2·VKRXUO\UDLQIDOOUHFRUGV 1885-2015). Fig. 4 Annual mean sea level in the Victoria Harbour. Page 2/5 AMS 44th Conference on Broadcast Meteorology, Session 4 - 15 June 2016 - Austin, Texas Fig. 5 Adaptation work by CEDD - (top) constructing check dam to prevent debris flow and (bottom) wave wall to strengthen coastal protection. (Photo credit: CEDD) Fig. 6 Adaptation work by DSD - (top) flood control strategies and (bot- (CEDD) and the Drainage Services Department tom) flood wall and barrier to guard against storm surge. (Photo credit: (DSD) in response to the projected mean sea level DSD) rise and the likelihood of more extreme weather in Hong Kong. 2014, received both local and overseas recogni- tions. The second episode "Meltdown: Cryosphere 3. GETTING THE MESSAGES ACROSS under Pressure" won the prestigious Silver World Medal, Environment and Ecology category, at the Hong Kong has just experienced a year of rec- international 2015 New York Festivals World's Best ord-breaking high temperatures in 2015, followed TV and Films (Ref. [11]); by a month of cold and wet extremes in January 2016 (Ref. [10]). As such, it is not just a matter of (b) leveraging resources and material collected by trying to put together a convincing story about weather enthusiasts to produce short videos on events that would only happen many years down the tropical cyclone hazards to raise the public's line; it is just as important and may be even more awareness on behalf of Typhoon Committee. relevant to sound the alarms about the clear and Through real-life visual images from typhoons in present danger associated with global warming. recent years, including Morakot, Utor and Haiyan, Debunking myths about climate change are also the video introduces four major threats caused by crucial in this information age when misleading tropical cyclones, namely, strong winds, rainstorms, speculation and rumours may easily spread. huge waves and storm surge. The videos were premiered at the Third UN World Conference on HKO has been actively promoting public edu- Disaster Risk Reduction held in Sendai, Japan in cation on climate change through a multi-pronged March 2015, and have since been uploaded to the approach with broadcast media as a major com- World Meteorological OrganiZation (WMO) and munication channel: Typhoon Committee websites. (Ref. [12]-[13]); and (a) collaborating with public broadcaster to produce (c) making use of the in-house produced CMS ed- an awarding-winning TV documentary seULHV ´0H ucational TV weather programme to promulgate teorology 6HULHV,9µZKich looks into the underlying climate change messages. causes and impact of extreme weather phenomena with climate change as background. The CMS production is an on-going effort since four-episode series with sub-themes on typhoons, January 2014 with more than 130 videos produced cryosphere, flooding and water resources, broad- since.
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