NAN-AE-4
Advocacy
Ugboroke (Delta), Aug. 17, 2017 (NAN) Prof. Lai Oso, National President, Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria (ACSPN), has called for improved media advocacy on the devastating effects of climate change.
Oso made the call on Thursday at the “World Climate Stimulation and C-Road Training for Media Practitioners and Environmental Journalists’’ in Ugboroke, Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta.
The training programme was organised by the South South chapter of ACSPN.
Oso stressed that environmental issues were largely under-reported in the country and urged journalists to familiarise themselves with the rudiments of interpretative journalism.
“The media have a major role to play in the reportage of environment issues, including the climate change.
“Although the fact that the environment or climate change has not received substantial and consistent media coverage may not be the fault of the media and journalists alone.
“Sources, particularly those with a lot of social, cultural and economic capital, do substantially influence not just the definition of social problems but their coverage.
“Interpretative journalism demands that a journalist must have a deep understanding and knowledge of the issues being reported; it requires deeper treatment beyond just a few paragraphs on a newspaper page, it requires feature articles.
“For instance, if flood occurs, we must not just report it as a single event but as an outcome based on certain causes like corruption, poor policy implementation and poor participation,” he said.
Also speaking, the resource person, Dr Vincent Ojeh of the Department of Geography, Taraba State University, said that by 2020, yield from rain-fed agriculture would reduce by 50 per cent.
He also said that it had been projected that access to water could be the single biggest cause of conflicts and wars in some African countries in the next 25 years.
Ojeh urged the government and the people to take the issues of environment seriously, saying that between 75 and 250 million Africans could be exposed to increased water stress due to climate change by 2020.
“The media cannot report what they do not know, so there is need to equip them to the necessary wherewithal to enable them to report environmental issues adequately.
“They have a major role to play in advocacy, educating and sensitising the public on the dangers of deforestation, flood and building on water channels as well as the effects of greenhouse gas emissions, among others,’’ he said.
The programme was convened by Dr Majority Orji, a lecturer in Delta University, Abraka, who is the Vice-Chairman, South-South chapter of ACSPN. (NAN)
EDI/OOK
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Don urges media to intensify advocacy on climate change
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