The climate crisis has become a global issue for countries worldwide. Crop failures, droughts, rising global temperatures, and other problems arise from human activities continuously producing carbon.
The Indonesian government has announced various policies and strategies to address the climate crisis. Unfortunately, the public has not yet fully engaged with this issue.
There are opposing groups that believe in conspiracy theories regarding the origins and causes of the climate crisis.
“Research from CfDS UGM found that 24.2% of respondents believe a global elite creates the climate crisis. These individuals are referred to as climate change deniers or groups that refuse to accept the climate crisis,” explained Dr. Novi Kurnia, a Communication Science lecturer at UGM Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (Fisipol UGM), during her talk at the UNESCO Digital Learning Week 2024: Steering Technology for Education event held from Sept. 2-5, 2024, in Paris, France.
In her discussion, Dr. Kurnia highlighted the proliferation of misinformation and hoaxes related to the climate crisis.
Dr. Kurnia noted that the lack of increased attention to this issue and the emergence of opposing groups could hinder government policies aimed at addressing the climate crisis.
Therefore, strategies to combat climate misinformation need to be implemented as soon as possible.
According to research by the UGM Center for Digital Society (CfDS UGM), 98% of misinformation originates from social media. This figure comprises various forms of misinformation, such as hoax content, parodies, context errors, and fake content.
It was found that 57.7% represents false connections or misinformation about the climate crisis. Although most respondents could distinguish climate crisis misinformation, only 20% could effectively debunk all forms of misinformation.
“Indonesia has a relatively high population of climate change deniers, as they are also the ones spreading misinformation. While their growth is still limited, it must be countered immediately,” added Dr. Kurnia.
She emphasized that disseminating information regarding the climate crisis is not yet popular among the public, and research should be conducted by analyzing information that has already been verified as hoaxes by fact-checkers.
However, the potential for misinformation dissemination will certainly increase if the public begins to pay attention to climate crisis issues.
Through a panel discussion titled “Pathways to Sustainable Futures: Navigating Digital and Greening Transition,” Dr. Kurnia also discussed the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in combating climate crisis misinformation.
Currently, anti-hoax organizations such as the Indonesian Anti-Slander Society (Mafindo), the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), and Google are already using AI to filter hoaxes and misinformation.
AI can sift through and refute articles or content identified as hoaxes. Nevertheless, the use of AI also presents several challenges.
“The accuracy level of fact-checking using AI ranges from 30-90%. It is difficult for AI to filter context, and we must avoid mistakenly identifying accurate information as hoaxes,” said Dr. Kurnia.
Filtering the context in Indonesian is challenging for AI because current AI systems are still based on English.
According to her, AI based on Indonesian, local languages, and community terms still requires further development.
Additionally, ethical issues related to freedom of expression pose a unique challenge in using AI to combat climate crisis misinformation.
The potential of AI as a tool for filtering misinformation and hoaxes requires special attention from the government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Therefore, collaboration between sectors is essential to communicate climate crisis issues to the public without being hindered by hoaxes.
Dr. Kurnia added that AI development should be grounded in the community’s needs based on local wisdom and societal values.
If not, AI could potentially produce misinformation and hoaxes itself.
The gathering of academics, government officials, and NGOs at the UNESCO Digital Learning Week 2024: Steering Technology for Education highlighted global issues in implementing sustainable living.
Approximately 300-400 policymakers and experts from 50 countries came together to initiate strategies and joint commitments to face the climate crisis.
Author: Tasya
Editor: Gusti Grehenson
Post-editor: Lintang