Research Seminar - Mapping Climate Change through a macrocosm – a UNESCO-Tagged World Heritage Site in India

Mapping Climate Change through a macrocosm – a UNESCO-Tagged World Heritage Site in India

Presented by: A/Prof Deepti Ganapathy

Date: Monday 24 June 2024
Time: 12:00-1:00pm
Location: Online via Zoom and in-person at the SCA Writer's Studio (Level 6, Michie Building)

Abstract

Home to around 50 million people, the Western Ghats consist of 4,156 villages across six states, running north to south over a distance of approximately 932 miles, with peaks ranging from 1,030 to 2,695 meters above sea level, rainfall ranging from 80 to 320 centimetres on an average. They are the source of major river systems, including the Cauvery, Krishna, Godavari, Palar and Pennar basins. According to documented reports, the Western Ghats cover barely 5% of India’s forest area but are home to 1,800 species endemic to the region and consists of 27% of all the species of higher plants recorded in the Indian region. They are also a hub of economic activity – where mini hydel power projects, tourism and many industries thrive. The Western Ghats were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2012. This tag brought along with it a myriad of restrictions on industries in the region. 

The reports that appeared in the Press had several implications, especially for the Media industry (i) how do they co-produce news? (ii) what importance is attached to news related to climate change? (iii) what factors are at play while editorial decisions either project or downplay a climate event? (iv) how does the media industry balance corporate interests while tackling scientific evidence? (v) why does a COP summit have themes that communicate an overarching message?

Through her analysis of newspaper reporting, the speaker has in her book, debated about the conundrum that surrounds communicating about the issue of climate change.

Presenter

Deepti Ganapathy has 18 years of practitioner and academic experience with India’s leading media and education conglomerates- these include The Times Group, Deccan Herald, NDTV, IIM Indore and School of Business Management, NMIMS University. At IIM Bangalore, she teaches Communication courses for the MBA programme and offers several Executive Education courses. She has been Program Director for various custom and short-duration programmes, and offers Open Programs on Sustainability and Communication.

Her research has been published in leading management journals such as the Academy of Management Learning and Education, as well as in highly ranked Communication journals such as Journalism, International Journal of Strategic Communication. She has contributed book chapters in books edited by renowned scholars globally and published by Sage and Emerald on Social Media and Measurement and Computer-Mediated Communication. 

She is the author of the recently published book “Media and Climate Change: Making Sense of Press Narratives”, which explores the socioeconomic and cultural understanding of climate issues and the influence of environment communication via the news and the public response to it. Her book has been well received globally and she has been invited as a plenary speaker at prominent Climate Conferences and as a speaker to research centers in Universities in the US and EU doing work around the themes of Sustainability and Climate Change Communication. Her book was listed in the Honour Book list 2022 in the Business Category in the Green Literature Festival.