Climate Change News Is Awash Everywhere, The Phenomenon Is Hitting Hard‟: Dialoguing with Rural Communities of Selected Districts in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The article explores how the availability of climate change news inZimbabwe is pushing the rural communities‟ understanding of threatsposed by climate change on rural livelihoods and ways of life. Climatechange has become a global threat to the rural livelihoods with theerosion of livelihoods leading to rural-urban exodus that is draining ruralbrains. This article is based on the argument that the mainstreaming ofclimate change news increases the awareness of rural people and aidstheir adaptation and resilience strategies. The study used a qualitativemethodology with a bias towards an exploratory research design. Thestudy used focus group discussions and in-depth interviews to gatherdata. The study used purposive sampling and adhered to all ethicalprinciples. It found that climate change is hitting communal areas hardbut rural communities have been benefiting from government and privatemedia of information dissemination of news. The rural communities havebeen building resilience and adaptation to the vagaries of climate change.The study concludes that climate change remains a global threat to foodsecurity and rural development and more focus on climate news targetingrural communities must be introduced to fast-track rural developmentand resilience building. The study recommends the introduction ofcommunity radios and media outlets.