Communication and environmental conservation: Advances and challenges in Latin America

Introduction: This article presents the results of a review of literary works on environmental communication and conservation. Method: The study is based on informative and argumentative documentary research (Alfonzo, 1995; Páramo, 2008), related to the analysis and comparison of experiences. Results: Communication and environmental conservation is an emerging field of research, which has increased its results in the last five years. The countries with the largest production of such studies are Spain, Mexico and Colombia, which largely address issues related to: pro-environmental behaviours, pro-environmental attitudes and sustainable attitudes. These studies also address issues concerning environmental communication and, to a lesser degree, communication and environmental conservation. Discussions and conclusions: Advances in research on communication and environmental conservation include the media actions of environmental communication, the emergence of environmental journalism, and the criticism of the media’s catastrophic depiction of environmental issues. The challenges for environmental communicators are to carry out a more educational work in the transformation of habits and the generation of pro-environmental behaviours, and to play a more participatory role in the planning and evaluation of the public policies necessary for the conservation of biodiversity and protected areas.