Climate Change Media for the Most Vulnerable

-- Press Release from Internews -- www.internews.org

November 19, 2008) Millions of people at high risk from climate change will get vital information they need thanks to an initiative that just named 40 journalists from 33 developing countries who will be brought to the UN negotiations in Poznan, Poland in December.
 
The Climate Change Media Partnership — set up by Internews, Panos and the International Institute for Environment and Development — will provide the journalists with a two-week program of support to boost the quality and quantity of media coverage of climate change in their home countries.
 
Some of the journalists are from highly vulnerable countries — such as Antigua, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Zambia — that urgently need to adapt to climate change. Others are from emerging economies such as Brazil, China, India and Indonesia, which will play a critical role in a new global deal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stabilize our planet’s climate.
 
Research by the Climate Change Media Partnership partners shows that few journalists from such countries can afford to attend critical UN negotiations and that media coverage of climate change there is far from adequate.
 
"Journalists from developing countries are still very much under-represented at these crucial global forums," says James Fahn, executive director of Internews' Earth Journalism Network. "The Climate Change Media Partnership is starting to make a difference in communicating the importance of climate change issues to the public and policy-makers around the world."
 
The CCMP will ensure that journalists from the developing countries can report to their audiences at home as governments try to agree a global plan for addressing climate change.
 
"The increased media presence will put governments under greater pressure than ever to negotiate a fair deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol by their 2009 deadline," says Mike Shanahan of the International Institute for Environment and Development. "People in the countries most at risk will no longer be left in the dark about what happens at international summits, where governments make major decisions that will affect their lives."
 
In addition to daily briefings, the Poznan programme includes a day long media clinic, expert editorial support and a matchmaking service that connects journalists with interviewees including scientists, government negotiators, activists and indigenous people. It means that millions of people in developing countries will get locally relevant information about what goes on at the UN summit, instead of having to rely on recycled reports from Western news agencies.
 
“Explaining the causes of climate change, broadcasting forecasts, and involving more people in decisions, are just some of the ways that journalists from developing countries already coping with the impacts of climate change can help prepare their countries for the challenges ahead,” says Rod Harbinson of Panos London. “The Climate Change Media Partnership recognises the crucial role that journalists play and lends them support through its fellowship programme.”
 
The Climate Change Media Partnership’s work in Poland has been funded by the UK Department for International Development, the V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation and the Germeshausen Foundation, the World Bank Institute for Sustainable Development, the Ashden Trust, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Ford Foundation.

MORE INFORMATION:

Email: Climate Media Partnership to request an interview

Or contact:

James Fahn, Internews’ Earth Journalism Network
Tel +66-(0)81-960-7673
Mike Shanahan, International Institute for Environment and Development - Tel +44 207 388 2117
Rod Harbinson, Panos London - Tel +44 (0)20 7239 7607
 
Climate Change Media Partnership