Editors from different media houses have been urged to make climate change a priority in their daily news agenda.
Officially opening media training workshop on climate change under the project: Improving Adaptive Capacity of Vulnerable and Food Insecure Populations (IACOV) in Lesotho, the Minister of Energy and Meteorology, Mr. Mohapi Mohapinyane said media plays important role in promoting climate adaptation by providing information that enables people.to make effective decisions at the households and global level.
He said the role of editors as gatekeepers of public information is key in the initiative of putting effective mechanisms and programmes geared towards strengthening technical capacities and systems, creating awareness that foster social behavioral change, promoting resilience and adaptive capacity among communities hence the training.
‘Media is an important channel for information that can empower people to effect positive change, inform vulnerable communities of climate impacts and how they can adapt to them to promote mitigation activities that limit the global warming,’ said Mohapinyane.
He added that the government and development partners rely on media to influence positive behavioral change, saying climate change has become the greatest threat facing the world today where humans, animals and other species face new challenges for survival when the world among others experiences frequent and intense drought, storms and heatwaves.
Mr. Mohalinyane noted that in many developing countries, journalists struggle to report effectively on climate change due to a lack of training and non-supporting editors, hence the training to address the challenges faced regarding coverage and reporting of climate change stories.
On the other hand, the Acting Director of Lesotho Meteorological Services (LMS), Mr. Mokoena France said climate change has forced people to change their way of living and such could be achieved with the involvement of media.
He said the training is intended to close gaps identified during training held for journalists on climate change so that the editors could appreciate climate change stories.
The IACOV, according to the National Project Coordinator, Mr. Nkopo Matsepe is a four years project that began in October 2020 and supported by the adaptation fund to almost USD10Million.
He showed that the project is executed by the Ministries of Energy and Meteorology and that of Forestry, Range and Soil Conservation, adding that it will be carried out in three components whereby components one and two will cover 10 districts and component three to cover districts of Quthing, Mohale’s Hoek and Mafeteng.
The workshop is scheduled to end on Wednesday.
Source: LENA 23/03/20121