Climate Change:

Community Radio Journalists Drilled To Raise Greater Awareness

Community radio journalists were September 21-25, 2015, at the Franco Hotel in Yaounde, drilled on techniques to raise greater awareness on climate change. The conference was organized by the African Climate Change Policy Centre (ACPC) in partnership with Developing Radio Partners (DRP).

By Mkong Immaculate

During the conference, radio broadcasters and producers were trained on the various issues surrounding climate change, and the challenges and strategies put in place to help the population cope with these challenges.

In the first two days of the conference, climate change specialist, Johnson Nkem, led government officials, NGO actors and journalists to explore the various climate change issues based on the explanations of what climate change really is, while the last three days were dedicated to practical training.

Discussing the current strategies implemented at the local and national levels in Cameroon to mitigate climate change-related challenges, the President of DRP, Bill Siemering, said that the radio has been identified as the surest and cheapest means to communicate with the rural population.

“The radio breaks the barrier of distance, illiteracy and the diversity of the population concerned,” said Bill Siemering.

He said it is against this backdrop that the DRP is engaged in building the capacities of community radio journalists so that they can better disseminate climate change information to their respective publics.

The effects of climate change are rife in Cameroon, but most Cameroonians are yet to understand that the changes they experience everyday; notably, high temperatures, increased rainfall, higher sea levels, bush fires, poor soil fertility and low agricultural harvests, floods, droughts, etc, all result from climate change.

Cameroonians, especially those in the local communities, consider these phenomena mishaps and associate them with witchcraft and/or other traditional convictions. This makes it difficult to get them involved in efforts to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change.

Presentations by NGOs involved in wildlife and environmental conservation like ERuDeF showed that the effects of global warming pose a big threat to endangered wildlife species like the Cross River Gorilla, Nigeria-Cameroon Chimpanzee, and the African Elephant, amongst others. The Great Apes have lost their habitat due to bush fires while others have moved in search of better habitats. Fragile ecosystems have also suffered further degradation due to climate change.

According to youth activists Edith Achamukong, environmental journalist at the Mount Cameroon FM Radio Buea, award-winning social entrepreneur and Executive Director of Smallholders Foundation in Nigeria, Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu, and Emma-Claudine Ntirenganya, award-winning Rwandan journalist, youths are expected to assume their role in the world of accelerating changes. While they have been engaged in mitigating and adaptation projects, the youths still face a lot of challenges and need support from the older generation.

NGOs and youths have been doing much to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate through protected area creation and management, restoration of degraded landscapes through tree planting, community and school education, training and communication amongst others.

The trainers urged journalists to go out to the field and dig out information national policies on climate change and other environmental issues, rather than wait for ceremonies and government documents to report on climate change.

Journalists left the conference with practical skills on how to record interviews, transfer and edit them in laptops to produce broadcast programs. The reporters also spent time criticizing the radio programs they had produced and discussing the challenges faced, while proposing solutions. They brainstormed on climate change topics and formats that can be used in radio shows for their respective communities. Participants were issued certificates of participation and all expressed satisfaction with the training received. They promised to use the new skills to raise greater awareness on climate change in their communities.