By Jiata Ekele
Kigali, Rwanda: Pan-African journalists convening at a Media Training on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kigali have identified quality stories on climate change and the environment as the missing links in pushing COP27 to discuss issues that prioritise Africa.
The journalists were convened by the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), a consortium of more than 1000 organisations from 48 African countries that brings together a diverse membership drawn from grassroots, community-based organisations, faith-based organisations, non-governmental organisations, trusts, foundations, indigenous communities, farmers and pastoralist groups.
The journalists are in Kigali to delve in-depth into views of the major discourses in climate justice globally and the position of Africa on a number of matters related to climate negotiation, specifically the discussions on the forthcoming 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate change (UNFCCC).
Isaiah Esipisu, Continental Coordinator of the Pan-African Media Alliance for Climate Change (PAMACC) explained the media’s influential role in shaping public attitudes on a wide range of issues including climate change.
“The media has a huge role in advocating for Climate Action. It provides a voice to affected communities, educating communities so that they are cushioned against the impacts of climate change. Similarly, it links citizens with policymakers and promotes informed and meaningful discussion about climate change mitigation and adaptation,” he said.
“Effective climate action, therefore, needs an improved knowledge base of the public about climate change and equipping them with skills for climate action. This is something which the media can help achieve,” he added.
In his presentation, Julius Mbatia, a climate finance expert from the ACT Alliance, buttresses Africa’s special needs and the role of pan-African journalists in following the conversations on climate finance.
He establishes that the issues in finance require posting areas for reporting and a need to scale up and honour commitments – the USD 100 Billion adaptation finance pledges.
“Besides the difficulty in accessing funds, low capacity to formulate acceptable projects and lack of cash flow coordination, Africa experiences an imbalance between adaptation and mitigation finance. Current flows are insufficient for near-term adaptation needs,” Julius added.
Climate finance stands at only US$78.9 billion in 2018 (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development – OECD 2020). According to Oxfam analysis on OECD 2017, 72B figure shows finance is only USD 228 once over-reporting, interest accrued and loan payments are considered.
Speaking further, the training experts and facilitators such as Landry Mushiga (European Union Awareness Campaign Expert, Burundi), John Muchangi (The Star Newspaper, Kenya), Duncan Mboya (Xinhua News Agency), and Prof Kioko Ireri (Communication Expert) explored how journalists could use the power of the media to solidify social movement and climate justice.
“First of all, understand your audience. In this case, we are targeting the voices of women, youth and marginalized communities among others. Next, select the medium of communication – this could be newspapers, TV, social media or community radio,” Isaiah Esipisu continued.
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), community radios can steer behavioural change through sustained dialogues. The medium has proved its relevance in situations of disaster and fighting the aftermath of the global health pandemic, especially in remote areas. It can also be a very effective tool to achieve climate-positive action by sharing good practices and reaching the local communities on the issues of importance.
Additionally, a study conducted by the Centre for International Research on Forestry to test the influence of radio programs on climate change knowledge further recommends the use of radio programs to increase knowledge and induce behavioural changes with regard to climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Isaiah admonished the journalists to make use of music for storytelling, advocacy and documentary.
He quoted a recent study by Helen M. Prior, “a music psychologist at the University of Hull in the UK, which was published in the SAGE journal. Musicians and music psychologists, according to the report, are acutely aware of the power of music and its ability to influence our emotions, moods, thoughts, wellbeing, identity, and behaviour towards others.”
PACJA’s Jennifer Nkurunzinza called on the various stakeholders in climate reports to develop a more robust storytelling system to mitigate and reduce risks associated with ambiguity. She also called on the participants to collaborate together across borders as they harness support and funding openings.
In their separate contributions, the journalists called on climate change and environmental reporters across the continent to always synergise and build the capacity to translate quality, robust information to people living downstream.
The media representatives reaffirmed that the demand of Africans to be considered as a region with specific needs and circumstances is still valid, and pledged to mobilize all resources to put this on the front-burner in COP27.
