Internews’ EJN Partners with The Scotsman to Bring Climate Stories from Around the World to Glasgow During COP26

Internews’ Earth Journalism Network has been helping to bring journalists to the UN Climate Change COPs since 2007. This year, in a first-of-its-kind collaboration, EJN partnered with The Scotsman, Scotland’s largest newspaper, ahead of the UNFCCC COP26 taking place in Glasgow.  

The paper published a daily story from a CCMP Fellow every day for two weeks as negotiations continued, bringing stories from around the world to roughly five million readers. These included: 

• Aida Delpuech’s story focuses on sea level rise and its impact on the Tunisian coastline. Read how climate change has given rise to invasive marine species like a new crab population. sarcastically named ‘Daech’ – the term used for ISIS – by Tunisian fishers. 
• Daniel Kaburu reports on how climate change and human activity is turning Mount Kenya drier than ever. Now, monkeys, baboons and snakes are entering homes in search of water. 
• Brazil is experiencing the worst drought since rain measurements began in 1931. Jessica Maes’s story highlights how the country’s carbon emissions are increasing, as it’s forced to turn from hydropower to thermoelectric plants. 
• The Sundarbans in India and Bangladesh are going underwater. What will be lost if the world's largest mangrove forest disappears? Disha Shetty reports. 
• 4,700 miles and 170 million people. That's India's coastline in two figures, and with increased cyclones & sea level rise, it's at risk, reports Rishika Pardikar.  
• The Philippines is no stranger to violent winds and storm surges. It’s ranked the fourth most vulnerable country to climate change according to one Global Climate Risk Index. Gaea Cabico reports. 
• Anastasiia Zagoruichyk’s story on wildfires in Ukraine shed light on how a 1.2-degree temperature rise is causing extensive damage, while also redistributing radiation from the 1986 nuclear disaster at Chernobyl. 

• Pollution from gas exploration in Nigeria by oil company TotalEnergies continues to destroy farmlands and ecosystems. Studies suggest that communities living in these areas are nearly 2x more likely to suffer from high blood pressure, reports Elfredah Kevin-Alerechi. 
• ️As thousands of acres of farmland lie parched or inundated by floods, farmers in Ghana are expected to see a 50% reduction in their harvests this year, reports Albert Oppong-Ansah. 
• Unprecedented rainfall strong enough to wash away villages has displaced local communities in Nepal, threatening lives and livelihoods, writes Mukesh Pokhrel. 

• ️ As winter temperatures rise, and snowfall decreases, towns in north-western Pakistan that depend on snowmelt are facing severe water shortages, reports Muhammad Daud Khan. 
• 69% of Chittagong, home to 1.4 million people, is predicted to be underwater by 2150. But for thousands of climate refugees in Bangladesh forced to leave their lives, businesses, and farmlands behind, there’s nowhere else to go but over-crowded slums, finds Shamsuddin Illius. 
• Baktygul Chynybaeva’s story highlighted how used cars, dumped by Western countries in Kyrgyzstan, are exacerbating air pollution and causing respiratory diseases in children. In a country of 6.5 million, there are only 20 electric vehicles. 
• Sibi Arasu explores how solar power in the ancient city of Chitradurga, India, is lifting rural families out of poverty, and enabling children to go back to school.  

 
Jodie Ginsberg, chief executive (Europe) at Internews, said: “We’re excited to work with the Scotsman for COP26 to help amplify the voices and experiences of those who are at the brunt of the current climate crisis.  

Neil McIntosh, the paper’s editor, added that coverage supported by the project would be “of huge value to Scotsman readers, who will benefit from a global perspective on the conference.”  

“I think the partnership with The Scotsman was great for me as a journalist because it took my work to [readers] whom I might not have had the opportunity to write for otherwise. I was able to take the issues that matter for my region to a global audience,” said CCMP Fellow Sibi Arasu.  

For stories and other helpful resources about the COP and the CCMP fellowship, check out our COP26 landing page here.  

Banner image: A family in Chitradurga that now relies on solar energy to power their looms / Credit: Sibi Arasu.