Federal Ministry of Environment Builds Journalists’ Capacity on Improved Climate change Reporting
By Ekemini Simon
The Federal Ministry of Environment through the Department of Climate Change and with support from the European Union has trained select journalists from Southern part of Nigeria for improved reporting on climate change.
The 3-Day capacity building workshop which held in Lagos from June 24 through 26 was carried out under the Nigerian Climate Change Response Programme (NCCRP), a programme implemented between 2020 to 2024 to enhance Nigeria’s capacity to meet its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) pledge of conditional 47 per cent reduction of Greenhouse Gas emissions by 2030 in line with Sustainable Development Goal 13 on climate action.
The Workshop had built the capacity of Journalists on key concepts and issues of climate change, roles and responsibilities in raising awareness for the public, increased journalists’ knowledge and capacity to produce effective press articles on climate change, support with data and editorial resources to enhance an improved quality of climate reporting in Nigeria.
The training also had sessions designed to improve the quality of the journalists’ articles, reporting, or programmes on environmental and climate change issues.
In his keynote address, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Environment, Mahmud Kambari said the ministry recognizes the powers of journalists to amplify voices, drive change, and hold decision-makers accountable, hence their training on climate change.
Represented by the Director of the Department of Climate Change, Dr. Iniobong Abiola-Awe, the Permanent Secretary said climate change is a defining challenge of the times as it threatens communities, economies, and the planet’s very existence.
He said the urgency of the climate crisis requires all to take bold and immediate action to mitigate its effects and adapt to the changing climate.
Kambari called on the journalists to play their role in catalyzing climate actions by informing, educating, inspiring, and mobilizing individuals, communities, and nations to take meaningful steps toward a more sustainable and resilient future.
He added ” As professionals in this space, you have a unique opportunity and responsibility to inform, educate, and engage the public on the realities of climate change and the need for urgent action, especially the decision makers. As media professionals, you can shape the narrative, influence public opinion, and drive action on climate change.”
The Permanent Secretary emphasized the need for journalists to use their platform responsibly, ethically, and courageously to tell the stories that need to be said, amplify the voices that need to be heard, and inspire the actions that need to be taken.
Earlier, the Team Leader of Nigerian Climate Change Response Programme, Dr. Todd Ngara said one of the NCCRP key tasks is raising awareness of and keeping climate change related issues on the public agenda by building the capacity of journalists and enlisting their support in sustaining engaging reporting and production of stories on climate change across multiple platforms.
He said the overall objectives of the programme is to establish the Measuring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) framework and implement the sustainable sectoral MRV systems for waste and energy; disseminate climate change knowledge through awareness-raising campaigns targeting the youth, civil society, stakeholders and policymakers.
Other objectives include to establish a national and two States’ waste baselines as well as emissions profile associated with sustainable capacity building on best practices and also build Nigeria’s capability to participate in carbon markets in line with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which he said is key to Conference of Parties negotiations.