“Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.” These are the words of one of Ghana’s illustrious sons, and former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dr. Kofi Annan, as he emphasized the enormous significance of information in our society.
For him, and truly so, an informed society will be better equipped and placed to deal with the challenges of the twenty‑first century. And in fact, the mass media is advantageously positioned to play this critical role of effectively and efficiently disseminating information and providing education to feed the society. The aim of such role will be to stimulate the interest of the society to become curious and much concerned about the very core things that affect us all.
In this feature, all I seek to do is to look at the role journalists (including me) play, in Ghana and Africa for that matter, can do with environmental information which is critical to any environmental battle that seeks to deal with climate change menace. In fact, climate change knows no boundaries and has no room for racism.
The role of the media in widely spreading information about the climate and seeking to provide access to environmental information cannot be overlooked.
Why we must get involved
In fact, we are all lurching in the menace of climate change and the time to act is long overdue. The awful trend at which we are causing the environment is fast bouncing back to us like a football kicked against a wall.
The trend threatens to overturn significant developmental gains that African nations have made as it poses threats to food and water security, to political and economic stability, to livelihoods and landscapes. It has affected the one-time sufficient rainfall patterns, affected our health in so many ways – the polluted air we now breath in, the polluted water sources we now drink from, the natural resources we are now fast losing, the scorching sun we now have to endure, long and windy dry season with short rainy season swamped by protracted drought leading to poor crop yields are all glaring evidence of the immeasurable destruction climate change has brought upon us.
However, experts say climate change also creates opportunities for African politicians, business leaders and communities to act in ways that bring benefits for all. It can create opportunities for new business models and innovations, new routes to sustainable development and new ways for ancient knowledge to have an impact at home and in the wider world.
So, climate change effects and the opportunities that it creates can be told through the media. But, since a good story not told well makes a little impact, I think the one who tells the story needs know so well, where the story originated from, its impact and how it should be told.
In my practice as a journalist for almost a decade now, I have benefited from a few trainings/workshops on climate change and have learnt a lot. One of such trainings was the one organized by CARE Ghana on Climate Change Adaptation in April 2012 at Nalerigu in the Northern region of Ghana. As a result, I have come to appreciate that for us journalists to report on climate change, we must first ask ourselves these pertinent questions: what do we know about the climate?; Climate or weather?; Change or variability?; how do human activities affect the climate?; what are the impacts of climate change?; what do we know about mitigation and adaptation?;do we know Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change?; do we know the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change?; and do we know reference sources for creditable information on climate change? I have no doubts in my mind that many indeed are aware but, obviously, a large number of us may not be aware. And again,
those who are aware, what do they do with the information they have? Effectively using it to educate or inform our populations? I am not sure about that.
In their report titled; “Media Coverage of Climate Change: Current Trends, Strengths, Weaknesses”, and published in March 2007, Maxwell T. Boykoff and J. Timmons Roberts, throw more light on the role of the media in fighting climate change; “What role do the media play in influencing personal, national, and international action to address climate change? How much has the media covered climate change, and what is driving changes in that coverage? How do climate change stories come to be reported, and who gets cited as legitimate sources in those stories? What influence do the media play in forming public opinion? Very recent reports have acknowledged the need for foreign aid to help poor nations adapt to climate change: what role is the media playing in mobilizing that aid or making it less likely to materialize? Through time, mass media coverage has proven to be a key contributor – among a number of factors – that have shaped and affected
science and policy discourse as well as public understanding and action. Mass media representational practices have broadly affected translations between science and policy and have shaped perceptions of various issues of environment, technology and risk (Weingart et al. 2000)”.
How we can get involved
The first point to report on environmental issues is to get interested. Once we get interested, we will get curious to seek relevant sources and experts’ materials on climate change that can get us on course. Our interest and the availability of such specific information and references will enable us to widely incorporate environmental issues into mainstream reporting. This is a surest way of us ensuring that accurate environmental information becomes duly and strategically integrated into the public domain sooner, rather than later; systematically, rather than sporadically.
My little research while piecing this together shows that Africa is one of the five priority areas identified by UNEP, accordingly African journalists need to be trained in environmental reporting. Accurate and balanced environmental journalism requires a firm grasp of global, regional and local environmental issues. However, we must not wait for a formal training that may or may not come and so, we can do what I call mini researches into environmental issues which our capacity and resources can accomplish, seek experts’ opinions to equip ourselves with relevant environmental information that will enable us achieve our aim. Yes, we may not get accolades as environmental journalists, but incorporating environmental reporting into our mainstream reporting is highly needed and the time to do that is now!
Meanwhile, the efforts of journalists interested in environmental reporting can only be successful if their respective media houses continuously and conspicuously give them space (print) or airtime (electronic) for their features, stories or documentaries to disseminate environmental information.
From today, I have resolved to do more features and special reports that will drive the agenda of adequately providing the public with environmental information/education, while challenging African leaders and stakeholders to show ample commitment to the fight against climate change and the need to also ensure all adaptation and mitigation measures are put in place to reduce the adverse impacts of climate change among the populations.
