CFP Special Issue N°54 (2026): Environmental Communication in Latin America

CFP Special Issue N°54 (2026): Environmental Communication in Latin America

 

Deadline to submit manuscripts: April 15th, 2026

Expected date of publishing: December 2026

 

Guest editors:

Dr. Karla Palma, Universidad de Chile, Chile (karla.palma@uchile.cl) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3191-4038

Dr. Ana Claudia Nepote, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México (nepote@enesmorelia.unam.mx) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9251-6981

Dr. Eliana Herrera Huérfano, Universidad de la Sabana, Colombia (eliana.herrera@unisbana.edu.co) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6238-3874 

Latin America stands out as a highly diverse region comprising a group of countries. In this region, both biological and cultural diversities are interlinked and expressed through bio-cultural memories, which, by combining a variety of knowledge, fuel socio-environmental care and preservation (Barrera-Bassols & Toledo, 2008; Boege, 2008; Kimmerer, 2013). Amidst extractivism and dispossession affecting the region (Gudynas, 2012, 2018; Svampa, 2019), there are outstanding collective actions defending water, land, and life, intertwined through communicative processes as well as environmental justice efforts (Escobar, 2015; Porto-Gonçalves, 2016; Martínez-Alier, 2023). 

At the same time, Latin America registers a high rate of environmental leaders murdered by their activism. Indeed, just in 2024, 80 percent of those killings occurred in this region (Front Line Defenders, 2025). Over the past two decades, local communities, social movements, journalists, and both public and private organizations have contributed to expanding the scope, practices, and strategies through effective communication. These efforts have considered a diversity of perspectives linked to preservation, as well as environmental conflicts, interests, and problems. The study of such phenomena has strongly focused on topics such as journalism and environment, particularly exploring media coverage and content analysis, as well as how inclusive or ethical journalistic practices are when producing stories about environmental themes, to mention a few (Mena-Young, 2019; Koop, 2020; Loose, 2023 y 2024; Takahashi, 2024). The role communication plays in socio-environmental conflicts has also grown (Palma & Alcaíno, 2020; Broitman & Rocamora, 2021). 

Additionally, the development of environmental communication in Latin America highlights a key area of study, as it is closely linked to the communication practices cultivated by indigenous communities. These experiences’ footprints consider defending both life and the land, preserving and making traditional cosmovisions visible and their connections to media (Araujo & Santi, 2022; Contreras, 2019; Herrera Huerfano et al., 2016). 

The intersections of science, environment, and their communication present their own challenges, which have been addressed in the Journal of Science Communication América Latina special issue (Massarani et al., 2024). Together, environmental education is a key subarea of development (Aparicio & Castro, 2019), demonstrating the theoretical development of transdisciplinary opportunities within the field (Palma et al., 2025; Gomes et al., 2020; Gavirati, 2016). The thread studying communication of risk assessment and management is also contributing to this body of knowledge and work (Palma et al, 2022; Loose, 2020; Rosas & Barrios, 2017). 

These are just a few examples of the growing field of environmental communication in Latin America, which is fueling and enriching debates at both local and global levels (Takahashi, 2022). It is a field that has been experiencing critical shifts: from discussing the limitations of environmental communication shaped by crisis and pushed by emergency, as well as the ethical dimensions implied in it, to frames that conceive environmental communication as a discipline of care (Cox, 2007; Pezullo, 2024).

The strengthening of this field of study can trigger theoretical and practical exchanges within the region. As a process rather than a fully developed product, a key question arises: What does research on environmental communication look like within and from Latin America? Therefore, this special issue, Environmental Communication in Latin America, invites scholars who are studying environmental communication in its different, situated dimensions, to critically discuss and address the scope, frames, and dilemmas sparked by their research; findings and methodologies developed by their empirical experiences in the field of Latin American environmental communication. 

This special issue aims to contribute to the development of the field in our region by addressing questions such as: What are the problems, themes, issues, and/or cases explored in this field? How is research being conducted? What are the communication practices, as well as contexts, these researchers are emphasizing? Indeed, this special issue aims to map out both the theoretical and methodological approaches to research in environmental communication within the Latin American context. This effort to map gains even more sense when considering the COP30 in Brazil (2025), where the diversity of landscapes, the mix of cultures, and local knowledge of bio-cultural memories can gain momentum as key and counter-hegemonic contributions to the global debate about environmental and climate justice.

 

This special issue calls for papers addressing topics like (but not limited to): 

Diverse perspectives on sustainability

Communication about risk and disasters

Climate change communication

Community communication

Different practices and strategies in communication developed by communities

Socio-environmental movements

Gender and eco-feminisms

Environmental education and educommunication

Public communication, communication of socio-ecological sciences

Audiences 

Artificial intelligence, communication, and environment

Interdisciplinary encounters about communication

Impact and advocacy in regulating information, communication, and media in Latin America (Escazú Agreement) 

Safety conditions of practicing environmental journalism 

Corporate communications and PR in environmental topics (environmental license,CSR, ESG)

Greenwashing and deceiving practices in environmental communication

Artivism and the environment

 

Manuscripts in English and Spanish are welcome. Please, check the authors’ guidelines www.comunicacionymedios.uchile.cl 

 

Comunicación y Medios is in Scopus (Q2); Web of Science (WoS) - ESCI; SciELO-Chile; DOAJ; ERIH PLUS; Latindex; Dialnet; REDIB; CLASE; MIAR; Latinoamericana; LatinREV

* Comunicación y Medios permanently accepts submissions for its section on general topics.

References

 

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Araújo, B. C. C.; Santi, V. J. C. (2022). Media territories and the territorialization of the indigenous people movement in the media bios. Trayectorias Humanas Trascontinentales, p.143 - 155.

 

Barrera-Bassols, N., & Toledo, V. M. (2008). La memoria biocultural: La importancia ecológica de las sabidurías tradicionales. Icaria Editorial.

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Broitman, C., & Rocamora Villena, V. (2021). Ciencia y argumentos científicos en la controversia sobre la instalación del proyecto HidroAysén: normativa, debate y proceso . Anuario Electrónico De Estudios En Comunicación Social "Disertaciones", 14(2), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/disertaciones/a.10437

 

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Loose, E. B. (2020). Jornalismo e riscos climáticos: percepções e entendimentos de jornalistas, fontes e leitores. Editora UFPR. https://jornalismoambiental.jor.br/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/jornalismo-e-riscos-climaticos.pdf

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Palma, K., & Alcaíno, C. (2020). Mining the Media: How Community Radio Breaks Through Extractivist Discourse Articulations in a Context of Disaster and Socio-environmental Conflicts. Environmental Communication, 14(6), 830-843.

 

Palma, K., Salinas, C., Stange, H., & Valenzuela, M.  (2022) Desbordar el enfoque: Comunicación y Desastre en Latinoamérica [Overflowing the Frame: Communication and Disaster in Latin America] Question/Cuestión, 3(71). https://doi.org/10.24215/16696581e679

 

Palma, K., Jofré, D., Huenul Colicoy, S., Inzunza, S., Guerrero, N., Cabello, V., Martínez Reyes, C., & Castañeda González, J. (2025). Interdisciplinarity and local knowledge to foster community resilience in disaster risk management: A community-based educational approach on the Chilean coast. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 119, 105281.

 

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