As part of efforts to strengthen the capacity of journalists in reporting issues around environment and climate change, Africa Media Development Foundation (AMDF) held a Media Roundtable on Tuesday, 3rd September at the AMDF Training Room in Kaduna, Nigeria.
The Executive Director AMDF, Iliya Kure noted “if journalists have a clear understanding of the environment and climate change, they can become experts in reporting that field without so much dependence on climate actors for information about climate change and environment.
He added that to achieve this, AMDF went into collaboration with Bridge that Gap Initiative to ensure journalists’ capacity is built and they are better informed about the climate and environment, so that they can also write informed stories or news about the environment and ultimately become advocates of the climate.
Gloria Bulus, Executive Director Bridge that Gap Initiative, decried the impact of climate change saying though it is known as “a change in weather condition over a long period of time, the changes are now happening at a very short interval. For example the drought, hurricane, low rainfall, high temperature, low food production we experienced in 2018 is not the same as 2019.
“We cannot deny the fact that climate change is happening; the rise in temperature, malnutrition, changes in the ecosystem, animal extinction, heat wave which increase at high intense, the general change in health of humans, rise in sea level are all clear indication that climate change is real”.
Gloria said some of this causes of climate change are natural and human causes, “We are more concerned on the human causes such as burning of our waste, fossils from industry, deforestation, use of chemical to fish, lack of soil preservation, hunting activities. Scientist belief that it is human that is changing the climate, about 97% of climate change is caused by human activities”.
She called on journalists to be committed to reporting climate crisis the way they report on politics, economic, government and business.
“Journalists could also make the people to see climate stories as interesting as other news. You can also advocate on climate through investigative journalism; if journalist could investigate on climate crisis it will also help the public to know the impact of human activities on climate change and the way out, she stressed.
Participants at the Media Round table were drawn from the media and the Network of Civil Society in Environment.
