Demystifying Climate Change Reporting

Venue: Apollo Dimora, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

Dates: November 15 and 16, 2018

The Kerala Institute of Local Administration is partnering with the Government of India-DFID (Department for International Development) project on Climate Change Innovation Programme (CCIP) and Kerala Union of Working Journalists to organise Media Training on “Demystifying Climate Change Reporting” on 15-16 November 2018 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. This will be facilitated by the Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA).

Objective

The objective is to improve media coverage of climate change issues by providing nuances on reporting to increase public engagement on the issue.

Duration of the Workshop

The 2 day workshop is proposed to be e conducted on 15th and 16th November 2018 and the deliberations will begin from 10:00 AM on the first day and end by 4:00 PM on the second day.

Target audience

The training sessions will be designed for middle to senior level journalists of mainstream print, visual, radio and social media who have prior experience or inclination to cover climate change issues as well as students in the same field. The training would serve as a learning ground for nuances on reporting climate issues and thus editors are also encouraged to participate in the event. The expected number of participants are 25.

Methodology

The workshop sessions will be designed to keep discussions interactive and participative. It is an opportunity for mutual learning through live case studies and group activities. Multimedia will be used to illustrate the best practices for covering climate change issues. Break out groups and group activities are planned to capture diverse views and to promote discussion.

Content of the Workshop

The workshop will cover the following aspects:

  1. Climate Change Science
  2. Climate Change Policy- Overview and current status of climate change negotiations.
  3. Overview of sectoral CC Impacts in the state – (Agriculture, Water, Forest, Health, energy, gender, and social inclusion) of climate change
  4. Attribution to climate change, and how /when specific events such as the Kerala floods can be attributed to climate change.
  5. Reporting of Disaster Risk Reduction: the difference between CC and DRR
  6. Importance of Narratives in Communicating Climate Change
  7. State initiatives in dealing with CC (SAPCC, CCC, LSGIs and CC, Local Action Plans, Carbon Neutral LSGIs, Institutions, activities, plans & budget, climate finance)
  8. Where to look for information, updates globally, nationally and regionally
  9. Climate Scepticism and media: Ways to tackle it

Anticipated Outcomes

At the end of the training workshop, the participants will have

  • Basic understanding of science governing climate change and impacts
  • Build an overview of key topics and issues in framing climate policies
  • Greater understanding on linking the local impacts with scientific processes
  • Be able to Contextualise to local issues with lens of climate change as added burden
  • Informed on new and emerging research on communicating climate change to new audience
  • Networked with experts, who can be approached by interested media personnel for queries and clarifications on subject matters related to climate change

More information can be downloaded here.