Over two days, about twenty researchers, communicators, and professionals reflected on the need to transform discourses on the climate crisis, overcome polarization, and place ecological transition at the heart of public debate. The closing address by Odile Rodríguez de la Fuente, an environmental communicator, emphasized the importance of reconsidering humanity's place in nature and its responsibility for the planet's recovery.
The inaugural lecture by Professor François Gemenne, a climate change specialist, raised the need to revise how the climate crisis is communicated, moving beyond discourses that fail to connect with citizens to foster understanding and social commitment. The congress highlighted the importance of finding new ways to convey scientific knowledge and turn it into a driver of transformation.
Discussions analyzed the intersection of media and political agendas and their influence on public perception of the climate crisis, revealing the difficulty of keeping ecological transition high on public priorities given shorter temporal horizons. It was concluded that a long-term strategic vision must be combined with communication that demonstrates the tangible effects of the transition on people's daily lives.
Experts agreed on the importance of overcoming simplistic approaches and promoting dialogue to manage the complexity of ecological transition, incorporating interdependencies between climate change, water, oceans, and other natural systems. The transformation of the information ecosystem, particularly due to the growing influence of social media and artificial intelligence, and the responsibility of professionals to combat disinformation were also addressed.
The congress concluded that the magnitude of environmental challenges demands a shift from concern to action and from confrontation to consensus-building. Communication thus acquires a strategic responsibility to help create the necessary social conditions for tackling these issues, grounding public debate in scientific knowledge, listening, and collective commitment.
