Klöck C., Meur-Ferec C., Dumas Pascal, LeDuff M., Pineda J. P. (2025). Climate Change Discourse and Coastal Erosion in New Caledonia: an Analysis of Press Coverage in Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes. Environmental Communication-a Journal of Nature and Culture, [Early access], p. [17 p.]. ISSN 1752-4032.
Titre du document
Climate Change Discourse and Coastal Erosion in New Caledonia: an Analysis of Press Coverage in Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes
Klöck C., Meur-Ferec C., Dumas Pascal, LeDuff M., Pineda J. P.
Source
Environmental Communication-a Journal of Nature and Culture, 2025,
[Early access], p. [17 p.] ISSN 1752-4032
Like many other islands in the Pacific and beyond, New Caledonia struggles with coastal erosion and marine flooding. How communities adapt to such erosion depends in part on media reporting. We therefore here examine coastal erosion in New Caledonia through an analysis of public discourse in Les Nouvelles Cal & eacute;doniennes, published between the years 2003 and 2024 in combination with information from 23 interviews with coastal management stakeholders conducted during fieldwork in New Caledonia in March 2024. We find an overall increase in attention to coastal erosion, yet that increase is not uniform across time and space but follows specific events and projects. While erosion is increasingly linked to climate change, it is often also discussed without specific reference to climate change, underlining the importance of studying discourse beyond certain terms. Finally, we find that New Caledonians do not seem overly concerned about coastal erosion, including because of a (potentially false) sense of security, and the dominance of other, political and economic, debates.
