APIA
Pacific broadcasters tuning into climate change
- © UNESCO/A. Caine
- Dr. Graham Sem delivering the keynote address
UNESCO and the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (CBA) organized a 2nd Pacific Media & Climate Change Workshop in Tonga from 9 – 10 February, 2009. The Workshop was part of the 2009 CBA Pacific Conference.
The Workshop was attended by front-line journalists and several CEOs from Australia, Samoa, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Kiribati.
The journalists presented examples of their climate change coverage for critical review by their peers and media training experts. They also viewed a wide selection of regional and global articles on climate change.
Dr. Graham Sem from Papua New Guinea lead author on the Nobel prize-winning IPCC delivered the key-note address on the latest IPCC Report as well as powerful examples of climate change in the Pacific.
Workshop activities included a highly entertaining “Survivor Debate” where delegates argued the ethics of printing a leaked report on “Upcoming Natural Disasters” and the “Amazing Race” where 4 teams had to scramble through 4 tasks of creating effective climate change awareness campaigns with limited budgets and Pacific-style ingenuity.
Participants were presented with comprehensive media packs in order to help develop the knowledge of their newsrooms. The UNESCO Media as Partners in Education for Sustainable Development: A Training and Resource Kit was part of the training materials presented to all participants.
Among the issues discussed by the Workshop participants was the creation of a permanent Pacific Climate Change News Portal to serve as a central, dynamic source of all news by country and by theme on climate change issues.
The Portal could be used by journalists for research and for posting their stories for peer review. It could also help development agencies to quickly estimate the status of climate change or to obtain useful contacts in the Pacific.
Climate change is caused by "scratches on the surface of the sun" - Tongan student
One of the most interesting elements of the Workshop was a visit by 20 students from a nearby school to discuss their levels of awareness and solutions for climate change.
One of the students described climate change as “scratches on the surface of the sun”, another as “mother earth’s revenge”. The students felt there’d been a high frequency of storms and common solutions involved “burning less rubbish”.
The 2009 workshop is a direct follow-on a 2008 Workshop for Pacific newsprint media in Apia, Samoa.
"We are committed to a continuous series of intensive capacity-building Workshops and the development of a dynamic news portal that will increase the frequency, quality, permanence, and promine of Pacific islands reporting on climate change" says Abel Caine, Adviser for Communication & Information at UNESCO Apia.
- Source:UNESCO Apia
- 12-02-2009
- © UNESCO/A. Caine - Workshops delegates preparing for the Amazing Race
- © UNESCO/A. Caine - Tongan students on climate change