Politics for Environment: Youth Perception on Campaign for Billion Tree Tsunami to Combat Climate Change Situation in Pakistan

Journal of Media Studies, Vol 35, No 1 (2020)

Politics for Environment: Youth Perception on Campaign for Billion Tree Tsunami to Combat Climate Change Situation in Pakistan

Fahad Mahmood

Abstract

Pakistan is considered a highly vulnerable country because of the disastrous effects of climate change. Billion Tree Tsunami campaign by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province of Pakistan in 2014 was the first attempt to mitigate climate change effects. The campaign was politicized and got media attention because of accusations of mismanagement, corruption and using the campaign for political motives by PTI. Studies on climate change communication assert that management of perception in such campaigns should be handled with great care as any is communication and misperception thus created could have serious consequences for the future of any effort carried out for climate change mitigation. Therefore, this study was conducted to know the perception of youth on the Billion Tree Tsunami campaign. Climate Change Risk Perception Model by Linden (2014) was used to develop a conceptual framework for the study. The quantitative method of the survey was used for data collection. Data was collected from five hundred respondents belonging to KP. It was found that the politicizing of billion tree tsunami campaign affected the perception of youth. The youth had a mixed perception of the campaign. They believe that they feel motivated to work for climate change mitigation after the campaign. It was found that the campaign was visible on media and PTI provided endorsing evidence from independent sources to support the campaign. On the other hand, there was a little effort for ensuring cross-sectional participation and minimizing opposition to it. It is also found that youth motivation to work for climate change mitigation is correlated to enhancing visibility and providing evidence through media whereas, it is not correlated to political affiliation.

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