2011-11-17
Climate Communications Day - December 1, 2011 - COP17
Journalists, bloggers, scientists and others will discuss innovative ways to communicate climate change
Thu, 2011-12-01
Journalists, bloggers, scientists and others will discuss innovative ways to communicate climate changeWhen scientists, journalists and academics gather in December at
this year’s UNFCCC Climate Change Summit in South Africa, one question
will be addressed for the first time in the setting: How can information
on climate change best be communicated?
To answer that, the Internews Earth Journalism Network (EJN) and
the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), in
partnership with other organizations, will host the 1st annual Climate Communications Day as an official parallel event at the Climate Summit to be held in Durban, South Africa. A day-long forum on December 1, 2011 that
will bring together journalists, bloggers, press officers, academics
and scientists, IT firms and other communications experts, this event is
aimed at exchanging insights, lessons learned and innovative new
approaches on how to spread news and information about climate change
accurately and effectively. (Register now - Registration
for Climate Communications Day is free but all travel expenses and COP17
registration is the responsibility of the registrant.)
Agenda Topics:
- A focus on the message
- A focus on the medium
- Breakout Sessions
- Dragon's Den: Getting climate change into the media
- Communicating climate change with games
- Climate Movies
- What's God got to do with it?
- Climate Change skeptics in the Global South?
- What Are, and What Aren't, Governments Doing to Communicate on Climate Change?
Climate Change Communication
Climate change has been and remains a difficult topic to
communicate. The science behind it is complex. The global scale and
long-term nature of its impacts make it difficult to report on at the
local level. Even extreme weather events, scientists say, cannot
automatically be ascribed to climate change. The future consequences of
climate change, although likely dire, remain shrouded in varying degrees
of uncertainty.
The event will feature panel discussions featuring the world’s
leading experts speaking on the latest trends in climate communications,
best practices when communicating stories at the local level, training
in IT tools, an exploration of how technology is being used to address
climate change, an exploration of what member states can and should be
doing regarding climate communications, and more.
Earth Journalism Network
For the last seven years, Internews has been seeking to meet the
challenge of communicating climate change through its Earth Journalism
Network – which now includes over 1,000 journalists working to cover
environmental issues for local media organizations across the globe. The
EJN assists local networks and individual journalists around the world
through training programs, fellowships, the development of online
resources and social networks, awards programs and supporting the
production of thousands, of stories.
International Institute for Environment and Development
The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
is a global leader in sustainable development. As an independent
international research organisation, IIED specializes in linking local
to global. In Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America,
the Middle East and the Pacific, they work with some of the world's most
vulnerable people to ensure they have a say in the policy arenas that
most closely affect them — from village councils to international
conventions. Through close collaboration with partners at the
grassroots, IIED makes its research and advocacy relevant to their needs
and alive to their realities.
Climate Change Media Partnership
Over the last four years, Internews has teamed up with IIED and Panos to form the Climate Change Media Partnership
which has sent over 150 journalists to the last four climate summits to
support capacity-building activities and improved climate change
coverage.
“It is time to bring all of this discussion together,” said James
Fahn, executive director of the EJN. “This is a unique opportunity to
cross-fertilize ideas on how to engage the public on climate change. Our
goal is to find effective new ways to turn this global issue into a
local story that can attract everyone’s interest.”
Register for the Climate Communications Day
Southern Sun Elangeni
63 Snell Parade
Durban, Kwazulu Natal 4001
South Africa
Thursday, December 01, 2011 from 9:00 AM
More About:
Climate Communications Day Partners:
