Bangladesh is in the heart of global policy debates and international media discourses as one of the most vulnerable due to changing climate. Recognizing this, the Government of Bangladesh has prepared the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2008 to deal with adaptation and mitigation programmes over the next decade. Mainstreaming climate change in the media is one of the priorities for increased public awareness and help policy decisions. The BCCSAP outlines four action plans concerning media/communication strategies, i.e. capacity building and training of journalists, exposure visits, publishing climate change reports, and media networking.

The purpose of this analytical paper is to give a critical overview of media/communication strategies with regards to the characteristics of Bangladeshi media system and socio-economic conditions, trends of information consumptions and local aspects of climate change impact. The paper argues that yet for all its merits, the BCCSAP fails to account for some key realities at least in its goal for mainstreaming the issue in the media. The action plans are narrow and equivocal in nature which need further consultations by involving different stakeholders who generate, produce, disseminate and most importantly consume news. Any such campaign should also consider importance of alternative media (e.g. folk songs, theatres, community radio, mobile phones) to translate information on climate change from the scientific research domain into language of general public.

The paper suggests that the four communication/media action plans need to be comprehensive in a separate national communication strategy document by incorporating needs of media and its publics.