Media key in combating climate change

Lazarus Sauti

Climate change continues to be one of the most important global issues confronting the international community.

Yet in Africa and other developing continents, climate change is poorly covered by local media and consequently the public lacks the understanding of both science and policy implications of this humanitarian threat.

Sadly, rural communities in Africa and other developing nations, which are particularly vulnerable, are often the least informed.

This is the reason why Ugandan Water and Environment Minister Munaaba believe that climate change seriously affects the poor.

 “Climate change affects the poor whose only source of income comes directly from the land, yet most of these people have no idea of what they can do to adapt and mitigate against climate change,” said Munaaba.

Munaaba goes on to say: “We count on you the media to assist the policy makers, non-governmental agencies and other stakeholders to reach these vulnerable people. Your pen, your script, your microphone, your voice will make a big difference.”

This means media is key in combating climate change.

But most important questions that should be answered first are, “Why does the issue of climate change receive such cursory and superficial treatment by African media when it is precise that most African countries are likely to be impacted most acutely?”

“Do the media influence the public’s attitudes toward climate change and does this influence extend to government decisions about mitigation?”

Munaaba said the media has an influential role in shaping the outcome and direction of world events, particurily the climate change issue, which now seems to be dramatically affecting our planets’ future.

The global effort to combat the impact of climate change can be realised if the media clearly educates and informs the public and policy makers on the various adaptation and mitigation measures.

“The media is an important constituent that no one can afford to ignore as a partner to development,” Minister Munaaba said, adding that a number of initiatives are being pursued at the national, regional, continental and international levels to address the impacts of climate change.

Chebet Maikut, one of the lead negotiators for Africa at the global climate change talks, concurred, saying that climate change is a complex, broad and cross-cutting issue that requires cooperation from all stakeholders.

He said the media has a crucial role to play as a channel for information handling and dissemination, education and communication to provide necessary services that help to sharpen and inform decision-making at various levels.

“The media plays a pivotal role in linking various sectors to work together in solving the problems that are made worse by climate change,” Maikut said.

It is therefore the responsibility of African governments, policy decision makers and players in the environment and climate change sector to empower the media so that it reports accurately on climate change.

This is why Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) climate change adviser, Maclay Kanyangarara, said there is need to empower the media to report accurately on climate change.

“Climate change is an emerging issue, hence most journalists face some challenges in clearly articulating the issues, resulting in most people not knowing the various measures that are available to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

“For example, a number of small-scale farmers are still practicing old farming methods that contribute to climate change, yet there are new and better farming methods that could reduce the impacts,” said Kanyangarara.

Political leaders and development players in Africa need to make sure information on climate change is accessible to the people.

Furthermore, there is need to showcase African success stories in climate change adaptation and mitigation so that these initiatives could be replicated in other regions.

There is also a need to build bridges between scientists and journalists.

Scientists are often unwilling to simplify their research findings for a lay audience, so journalists have to sharpen their skills to simplify jargon-heavy scientific content and make the subject more relevant and easier to understand.

Climate change has affected socio-economic development in most African countries as they lack financial capacity for mitigation and adaptation.

Media owners in the African continent are concerned about short-term profits and mostly are unwilling to criticise industry or offend advertisers.

As many of the media houses operate on shoestring budgets, they often do not have adequate resources to undertake thorough investigation of climate-related stories.

Therefore, governments should chip in and embrace media as an effective tool to create awareness about climate change.