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Home > Highlights > Training Workshop On Climate Change Sparks Strong Media Interest
Training Workshop On Climate Change Sparks Strong Media Interest
Journalists increased their understanding of global warming at a training workshop presented by CIFOR and WWF. Indonesia will be the focus of international media when it hosts the COP 13-UNFCCC meeting in December. Photo by Widya Prajanthi
CIFOR & WWF prepare for COP 13-UNFCCC in Bali, December 2007
A training workshop in Indonesia has helped journalists identify some of the key issues they face when reporting on climate change and forests. The CIFOR-WWF workshop was held in early May in Jakarta with the aim of enhancing the media's knowledge and reporting of the often complex issues surrounding climate change. It also presented scientists and communication specialists working on climate change issues with an opportunity to better understand the needs of journalists when producing stories about this often complex topic.
The workshop attracted the interest of some 30 Indonesian journalists from national and international media and, through its interactive training methods, successfully elicited the specific climate change issues that journalists felt they needed more information about. By making the workshop more interactive and responsive to the audience’s needs, it was able to ensure the material discussed was both relevant and beneficial.
The workshop aimed at:
- Increasing media awareness and understanding of the key climate change issues at the global and Indonesian level in order to prepare for the COP-UNFCCC Meeting in Bali, December 2007.
- Enhance media awareness of public policies at odds with international and national efforts to reduce climate change’s negative impacts
- Helping journalists in their efforts to provide accurate and reliable information and increase the public’s understanding of climate change
- Drawing media attention to and understanding of key climate change issues such as adaptation, mitigation, deforestation, and international trade
A highlight of the workshop was the number of issues journalists discussed and identified as central to their reporting. These included:
- Difficulties in getting up-to-date and accurate information
- Difficulties in finding suitable experts to comment on climate issues
- Different perceptions between editors and reporters regarding what is newsworthy
- Limited awareness that climate change is not just an environmental issue, but also a social and economic issue
As part of the workshop’s focus on the roles that society, industry and government play in dealing with climate change, the 30 journalists also examined some of the measures their own companies could implement to help reduce global warming’s negative impacts. These ranged from media corporations refusing to advertise environmentally unfriendly products, through to taking steps towards operating their businesses in a more environmentally friendly way.
Speakers and moderators at the event included representatives from CIFOR, IPB, WWF, Kompas and the Society of Indonesian Environmental Journalists. WWF was represented by Mr. Fitrian Ardiansyah, Director of the WWF Climate Change and Energy Program and Mr. Arie Muhammad, National Coordinator for the WWF UNFCCC Implementation Project. CIFOR’s representatives included two of Indonesia’s leading scientists in the area of climate change adaptation and mitigation, Dr. Daniel Murdiyarso and Dr. Heru Santoso. Dr. Dino Patti Djalal, Special Staff of the President for International Affairs/Presidential Spokesperson presented the closing address to the training workshop.
The workshop was one of many joint or individual activities organized by CIFOR and WWF as part of the lead up to the COP 13-UNFCCC Meeting in Bali, December 2007.
Background information (Indonesian language):
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