Environmental Communications: Basic Types and Characteristics

Globalization of environmental issues, development of sustainable development and climate change areas actualize the importance of environmental communications. Hazardous natural phenomena, human activity, competition between countries require the search for the most effective solutions and their legitimization. For two years, the author studied the development of environmental communications, reviewing the works of Russian and foreign authors, as well as conducting a comprehensive analysis of the media environment, official materials, legislation, expert and scientific works. The empirical material for this article was the results of previously conducted studies, Russian and international documents on ecology and environmental policy. For the first time, the author conducts a comprehensive systematization of the obtained results. The purpose of this article is to typify environmental communications, determine their main characteristics. The author distinguishes the following types of environmental communications: social, crisis and strategic. Social environmental communications are horizontal in nature and are aimed at informing target audiences, while their passive participation limits the degree of influence on the environmental program. Crisis communications are characterized by a vertical structure, which assumes the presence of one center for managing communication flows. Strategic communications are distinguished by a long-term focus on actions and mobilization of the community to implement sustainable social changes. In conclusion of the study, the author provides a comparative description of three types of environmental communication, highlighting the common and the differences. Having common foundations, they differ: in focus (horizontal, vertical, vertically integrated), goals (information, crisis resolution, structural changes), strategies (information, reactive, mobilization). The main difference between strategic communications and social communications is that information is linked to action options, it actually manages the decisions made by key actors. This is clearly seen in the example of the analysis of the actions of various countries and organizations on issues of sustainable development and climate change.