Context
In February 2025 the International Partnership for Information and Democracy launched a workstream on Strengthening information integrity on climate change and other environmental issues under the co-chairpersonship of the government of Armenia and the government of Brazil.
The workstream bringing together interested States of the 55 members of the International Partnership as well as civil society representatives aims to assess the challenges of the information space to climate change and environmental issues and provide concrete recommendations. It is aligned with the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change and provides input for the forthcoming COP 30 hosted by Brazil and the COP 17 hosted by Armenia.
The Forum on Information and Democracy is launching this call for contributions in the framework of the workstream to elaborate a policy brief aimed at raising awareness of information integrity on environmental issues, embedding it more firmly into global policy debates and providing actionable recommendations to States.
Attacks on Information Integrity on Environmental Issues
The rise of disinformation and the challenges in accessing reliable information pose a serious challenge to environmental governance, public understanding, and policy-making. While climate change disinformation has received increasing attention, other critical environmental issues—such as biodiversity loss, land degradation, water pollution, deforestation, and chemical contamination—remain underexamined in the context of disinformation and challenges to information integrity, such as attacks against journalists or loss of trust in reliable information. Yet these inter-related domains are equally vulnerable to strategic manipulation by vested interests and misinformation campaigns that can undermine scientific consensus, delay regulation, and erode public trust.
This call for contributions invites submissions focusing on how disinformation shapes, distorts, or delays action on non-climate environmental issues – while also acknowledging that each of these issues has potential for overlap with more climate specific disinformation as well. The call also looks for submissions investigating how the information ecosystem affects access to reliable information on these topics. Finally, it calls for innovative policy approaches to tackle these issues and establish information integrity on environmental issues.
The resulting policy brief will assess the scope of the problem and offer evidence-based recommendations for establishing information integrity on environmental issues.
What do we mean by environmental disinformation and attacks on information integrity beyond climate change?
We are interested in documented cases, ongoing research, or theoretical analysis of how false or misleading information has impacted the following issues or how the elaboration and spread of reliable information on these issues might be hampered and threatened :
- Biodiversity loss: causes, consequences, or solutions related to species extinction, ecosystem collapse, or habitat degradation.
- Land degradation and desertification: land use, agricultural practices, or soil degradation and their environmental harm.
- Deforestation and forest management: Industry-backed narratives, greenwashing efforts, or attacks on scientific findings related to forest conservation.
- Water pollution and scarcity: contamination sources, privatization efforts, or the effectiveness of water protection measures.
- Chemical and plastic pollution: regulation of harmful substances or overstating the efficacy of recycling or voluntary action.
- Other environmental concerns.
What contributions are we looking for?
- Case studies highlighting disinformation strategies or challenges to information integrity related to specific environmental issues or campaigns.
- Empirical research on the spread, sources, and impact of environmental disinformation, attacks against journalists or others that document reliable information on the environment or attacks against their credibility.
- Regional or sector-specific analyses (e.g., agriculture, forestry, extractive industries, or public health intersections).
- Evaluations of counter-disinformation strategies, including media literacy, policy regulation, or fact-checking initiatives.
- Proposals for or information on mechanisms, policies, regulations or institutional approaches to mitigate environmental disinformation and promote information integrity on environmental issues.
We encourage researchers, journalists, policymakers, and civil society actors to share evidence, analysis, and recommendations that illuminate the impact of environmental disinformation and of attacks on information integrity and suggest concrete policy responses.
Contributions may be submitted in English, French, German, or Spanish.
Please submit your contributions by 30 June 2025 to kzuegel@fid.azka-agency.com