Elaborating and formatting the educational content of an exhibit to increase awareness on adaptation to climate change at the Anse de Paulilles

Project: Elaborating and formatting the educational content of an exhibit to increase awareness on adaptation to climate change at the Anse de Paulilles, within the ECTAdapt project
Client: Departmental Council of Pyrénées Orientales
Categories: Stakeholder involvement
Start date: Decembre 2017
End date: Decembre 2018

OBJECTIVE

Plan the educational content of an exhibit at the Paulilles Park: to heighten visitor awareness on the local impacts of climate change – on water resources, flooding risk, erosion and submersion risk, biodiversity, fire risk and wine production – as well as inform them of the benefits of adaptation.

 

Note that this endeavor was performed at two cross-border natural parks (Paulilles and Montseny) within the cross-border ECTadapt project.

OUR APPROACH

The theoretical framework we relied on to craft our message was “best persuasive communication practices for climate change” and “binding communication”. Moreover, we provided educational materials and staging that encouraged the visitor to act in favor of adaptation to climate change.

Our endeavor involved two phases:

 

•Phase 1 for elaborating the technical content of each theme: on-site workshop with landscape readings for experience feedback and to prefigure messaging on climate risks and possible adaptation actions, consolidation of scientific data, interviews with sectorial experts, validation of basic technical content.

 

• Phase 2 for developing additional educational materials: wording of messaging based on four themes (climate change is here and now, it is going to evolve, its effects on the area can already be felt, and all can do their part [in confronting it]), illustration guidelines, photo collection, and setting up of an animal mascot to encourage onsite visitor involvement.

RESULTS

The trilingual (French, Catalan, English) exhibition was set up in 2019, comprising six display panels placed in three strategic site areas. This ludo-pedagogical course really showed the in situ “traces” of climate change (via landscape photos or illustrations) on water resources, flood, erosion and marine submersion, biodiversity, fires, and viticulture. It also showed the onsite adaptation initiatives undertaken and used a mascot to encourage visitors to take positive actions.

 

Exhibition photos: photos courtesy of Regional Council 66

 

Workshop photos:

  • Site experience feedback
  • Paulilles site risk map
  • Landscape reading

This post is also available in: Français