Climate change research and policy in Portugal

This article offers a review of research and policy on climate change in Portugal and is organized into three main themes: scientific knowledge and assessment of climate change; policy analysis and evaluation; and public engagement. Modern scientific research on meteorology and climatology started in Portugal in the 1950s and a strong community of researchers in climate science, vulnerabilities, impacts, and adaptation has since developed, particularly in the last decade. Nevertheless, there are still many gaps in research, especially regarding the economic costs of climate change in Portugal and costs and benefits of adaptation. Governmental policies with a strong emphasis on mitigation were introduced at the end of the 1990s. As greenhouse gas emissions continued to rise beyond its Kyoto target for 2012, the country had to resort to the Kyoto Flexibility Mechanisms in order to comply. Climate change adaptation policies were introduced in 2010 but are far from being fully implemented. Regarding public engagement with climate change, high levels of concern contrast with limited understanding and rather weak behavioral dispositions to address climate change. Citizens display a heavy reliance on the media as sources of information, which are dominated by a techno-managerial discourse mainly focused on the global level. The final part of the article identifies research gaps and outlines a research agenda. Connections between policy and research are also discussed

Mercadores de moralidade : a retórica ambientalista e a prática do desenvolvimento sustentável

Esse trabalho tem como objetivo analisar de forma crítica as sociedades modernas que estão cada vez mais aderindo ao “ecologicamente correto”. Qual será o motivo pelo qual indivíduos que dizem possuir consciência ambiental não contribuem para a sustentabilidade planetária

The hegemony of global politics: news coverage of climate change in a small country

Researching media coverage of climate change may shed light on the different configurations of global and domestic factors affecting journalism and politics. This article analyzes climate change coverage in Portugal from 2007 to 2014 in comparison with 14 other countries. It shows that the Portuguese press tends to reproduce the global political agenda on climate change, mainly focusing on international events associated with global political decision-making processes, instead of providing a domesticated coverage, as observed in other countries. National and local levels of action are thus obscured. The interplay between global and domestic factors-including characteristics of Portugal's press and politics, such as national political leaders' lack of mobilization and communication on climate change, media's deference to powerful sources, and reliance on international news feeds-creates the conditions for global politics to play an hegemonic role in media representations, which is likely to influence public engagement with climate change.The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade de Lisboa and the Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Sociedade, Universidade do Minho.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio