Bridging the Digital Divide: IIASA Presents Culturally Sensitive Approach to Climate Misinformation at ICEGOV, Abuja, Nigeria

ICEGOV 2025 Spotlight on Misinformation

At the 18th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV 2025), IIASA scientists underscored a critical flaw in the global fight against misinformation. A one-size-fits-all approach does not work. During a workshop on “Cultural Values and Online Misinformation”, Nadejda Komendantova, leader of the IIASA Cooperation and Transformative Governance (CAT) group, argued that effective strategies must be as nuanced as the cultural landscapes they aim to protect.

“To build effective resilience, our strategies must be as diverse and nuanced as the cultural landscapes they aim to protect”, Komendantova stated, presenting work co-authored with IIASA Research Scholar Dmitry Erokhin. “A narrative that is dismissed in one region may gain alarming traction in another due to its alignment with local values or historical experiences”.

As a prime example of this principle in action, she presented the Adaptation AGORA Climate Change Disinformation Academy – a digital platform that provides educational resources tailored to debunk region-specific disinformation tactics and communication styles.

About the Adaptation AGORA Project

The Disinformation Academy is a key component of the broader EU-funded Adaptation AGORA project, which aims to transform how climate adaptation policies are designed and implemented. The project's mission is to move beyond top-down decision-making by fostering inclusive, participatory governance. It brings together citizens, scientists, businesses, and policymakers to co-create adaptation strategies that reflect local realities and social priorities.

In the Adaptation AGORA project, IIASA works together with a consortium of European partners, including the Fondazione Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC) in Italy, which acts as the coordinator, along with Barcelona Supercomputing Center (Spain), Stockholm Environment Institute (Sweden), CIMA Foundation (Italy), ICLEI European Secretariat (Germany), Agenzia per la Promozione della Ricerca Europea (Italy), European Citizen Science Association (Germany), Ibercivis Foundation (Spain), Athens Technology Center (Greece), and the Stockholm Environment Institute Tallinn Centre (Estonia), as well as partner organizations Université de Genève (Switzerland) and SEI Oxford Office (United Kingdom).

The core belief is that adaptation cannot succeed without public trust and ownership. By studying various participatory formats from deliberative workshops to digital platforms the project seeks to bridge the divide between institutions and citizens, providing decision-makers with actionable insights into public values and concerns.

A significant part of this effort is the development of a suite of innovative digital tools to facilitate this engagement, which includes the Adaptation Collaboration Hub (ACH) for stakeholders to connect and collaborate, Climate Data and Disinformation Academies, and the Adaptation AGORA Mobile App.

These tools are designed to empower communities, build capacity, and ensure that the lessons learned from the project are scaled up into wider European adaptation strategies through a dedicated Policy Whitepaper.

In the Adaptation AGORA project, IIASA steers the crucial work on policy analysis and citizen engagement. The institute's researchers work to bring science, governance, and society into closer conversation, using systems analysis to identify the barriers to effective participation and institutional trust.