Harmonise Africa’s climate communication activities – CCLG-Africa
Mr Kofi Don-Agor, President of Climate Communications and Local Governance-Africa, has called for the harmonization of climate communications activities on the continent to enhance public education.
He said with synchronised communication tools and materials, Africans would be better prepared to live with climate crisis and explore the opportunities it presented to spur growth.
Mr Don-Agor made the call at the COP27 side meeting that brought together journalists and communicators from countries including Ghana, Malawi, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia and Brazil as well as the Climate Vulnerable Forum, to discuss challenges in the dissemination messages on climate crisis.
The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, more commonly referred to as COP27, is the 27th United Nations Climate Change conference held in Sharm El-Sheikh, in Egypt.
Issues highlighted included the low interest in environmental issues by communicators especially journalists and unavailability of resources to support the work of the few who were willing to develop stories.
The event hosted by CCLG-Africa, was on the theme, “Africa Communicating Climate Change.”
He said when individuals, communities, and societies understood climate change impacts that they would care, and take action hence the need for effective communication.
Mr Don-Agor said well thought out communication content and appropriate delivery channel would cure emerging issues of misinformation and disinformation about climate change.
He advised communicators to always contact reliable sources for information, eschew greenwashing, stereotyping and tell stories on opportunities.
Ms Mary Mwiikisa, a Journalist from the Zambian National Broadcasting Corporation, called on African governments and development organisations to devote resources to build the capacity of journalists and fund their work.
She said subjects on the environment, especially climate change, were technical and that generalist journalists would require considerable intensive training to grasp and develop impactful content.
“For instance, it is not easy to understand and report on COP. There are more that seven broad thematic areas one has to be familiarised with. A journalist definitely needs coaching to even focus and understand,” she said.
Source: GNA