The Lake Victoria Basin Commission has welcomed the establishment of a media network for climate change coverage.
LVBC’s communications and development awareness officer Willie Mugenzi said the regional media network dubbed Lake Victoria Basin Media Network for Climate Change Coverage was timely.
“The gap between scientists, policyweather informationns will be narrowed to benefit citizens. Timely information can determine farmers' harvest failures or success. Climate change is a real existential threat,” Mugenzi said.
“The media network can contribute to raising climate awareness, stimulate climate action and hold actors to account for the costs of inactions.”
Last week, the media network was formed during regional media training in Kigali, Rwanda.
Dorcas Kimono from the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation was elected chairperson.
The regional workshop convened on the sidelines of the Regional Workshop on Climate Change Adaptation and Catchment Management was organised by LVBC.
It was funded by Adaptation Fund through the United Nations Environment Programme through Adaption to Climate Change in Lake Victoria project.
LVBC deputy executive secretary, Coletha Ruhamya emphasised strengthening the partnership between experts in climate change adaptations, policy-makers and media actors.
Such partnership, she said, will deliver to the citizens of EAC partner states as ultimate beneficiaries.
She encouraged the media actors to make professional commitments to shifting the media’s focus from climate disasters to climate predictions, adaptations and mitigations.
“Improved collaborations between technical experts and media practitioners can make the problematic climatic conditions predictable, she said”
Beatrice Cyiza, the Environment and Climate Change director general at the Ministry of Environment, Rwanda, urged participants to translate learned knowledge into concrete actions.
“Climate change is discriminating on the basis of status. It affects us equally,” Cyiza said.
Participants covered how to generate the media interest for adequate coverage of climate change in Lake Victoria Basin, existing challenges constraining coverage of climate change issues, and strategies for overcoming them.
The regional media training on climate change adaptations resolved to bridge the gap between scientists, technocrats, and policy-makers so that citizens as ender-users benefit from that mutual partnership.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
