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Delegates from 195 nations will gather at the upcoming 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, to be held in Montreal, Canada from December 7 to 19, 2022.
This COP is a particularly important one, as Parties look to adopt the “Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework” to curb the deepening biodiversity crisis and achieve the CBD’s overall vision of “living in harmony with nature” by 2050. Meetings of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing will also take place concurrently.
In addition to the 10 in-person fellows selected to cover the negotiations on the ground in Montreal, EJN, through its Biodiversity Media Initiative, has awarded six virtual fellowships to environmental journalists who will be supported to report on the biodiversity summit remotely. Both virtual and in-person fellows will keep their home audiences informed about COP15 and highlight why its outcomes matter.
Here’s the list of selected fellows:
- Asad Zia, Pakistan (eNews)
- Murad Khan, Pakistan(Suno FM and Pakhtunkhwa Radio Mohmand)
- Arul Karki, Sri Lanka (Tinakkural Newspaper)
- Zubaida Ismail, Ghana (China Dialogue Trust)
- Damilola Ayeni, Nigeria (Foundation for Investigative Journalism)
- Vanessa Oliveira, Brazil (Um Só Planeta)
"EJN’s virtual fellowship is a unique opportunity for journalists to learn and report remotely. To begin with, selected fellows can cover the conference right from their own newsrooms where they can simultaneously work with their mentors as well as their newsroom editors," said Stella Paul, EJN's Project Officer for Environment and Health, who will be training the virtual fellows along with Mike Shanahan, Project Director of EJN’s Biodiversity Media Initiative.
"Instead of getting lost in a sea of documents and acronyms, virtual fellows will be guided to access online resources that are relevant for their reporting on biodiversity negotiations. The fellows will also benefit from customized daily briefings and special interview opportunities with thematic experts, which will help them produce better stories during the summit," she added.
The media trainers will provide valuable insight into the deliberations happening on the ground, and share tools, resources, editing and guidance as needed to support fellows’ story production. Fellows will also have the opportunity to exchange ideas and network with their peers.
The virtual fellowship is supported by Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and Arcadia – a charitable fund of Peter Baldwin and Lisbet Rausing.
Look out for the fellows’ stories on the EJN website.
Banner image: Media trainer Stella Paul with EJN Fellow Asad Zia at the 4th Meeting of the Open-ended Working Group on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, held in Nairobi, Kenya from 21-26 June / Credit: Juthamas Sukitjanont.
