By Jackson Okata | amboleokata@gmail.com
The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in collaboration with Media for Environment, Science, Health, and Agriculture (MESHA) will hold two media cafes to train journalists on how to cover UN Conference on Climate Change 2024 talks in Baku Azerbaijan.
The aim of the two virtual climate change science media cafes christened The Road to Baku 2024 series is to prepare African journalists to cover the upcoming crucial climate talks.
In a call to journalists, the MESHA secretariat said in the first café, journalists will be taken through what is at stake for Africa at COP29 and framing gender and climate change issues at the Baku talks.
Journalists will also be trained on the nexus between gender and climate change including techniques for covering both subjects.
Day two of the science café will see journalists taken through climate hot spot mapping, COP29 in the eyes of rural smallholder farmers in Africa and COP coverage experience sharing from a climate journalist.
The two virtual media cafes will run on October 30 and 31, 2024 from 2pm daily.
The trainings are the third in a series that MESHA have undertaken in the last three years with support from the International Development Research Centre Eastern and Southern regional office based in Nairobi. This year, the series are being sponsored by Evidence-based gender and climate change reporting. Funded by the GENDER and Climate Adaptation and Impact Area Platforms at ILRI and CGIAR.
According to MESHA Secretary, Aghan Daniel, journalists participating in the two media cafes will receive grants to conduct field visits for purposes of data collection and producing climate and gender stories.
“The journalists will highlight CGIAR technologies that support farmers’ response to the impacts of climate change,” he added.
Journalists will be required to pitch the stories to MESHA with the stories being published in regional and local media.
In addition to the USD $200 story grants that will be extended to successful story pitches, MESHA will also pay journalists for stories that will make it to the prestigious Sayansi Magazine.
From 11 to 22 November 2024, COP29 will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan. This annual United Nations climate summit, officially known as the Conference of the Parties (COP), is a crucial moment where world leaders, policymakers, civil society organisations, research institutions, and businesses come together to negotiate measures to address the climate crisis.
The Baku COP known mainly as the Finance COP will focus on setting a new climate finance goal and implementing adaptation plans for countries most affected by climate change. Decisions at COP are made by consensus and apply to all UN member states.
Those willing to attend the trainings should send an email to the MESHA Secretariat at info@meshascience.org before October 30, 2024.
