Fifth African Climate Change and Environment Reporting (ACCER) Awards launched

The Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) has launched this year’s African Climate Change and Environment Reporting (ACCER) Awards with a call for journalists to embrace the challenges faced now and help find home-grown solutions.

This, according to speakers at the webinar held to launch the fifth edition of the awards, is key even now as the world’s attention has shifted to Covid-19 pandemic at a time the ravages of the climate crisis continue to threaten the biodiversity.

Speakers, elected from media stakeholders from Francophone and Anglophone African countries, as well as non-media stakeholders from several agencies, including the United Nations and African Union Commission, said it would be wrong to view the Covid-19 as a stand-alone crisis, and consequently deny other pertinent issues media attention and focus by governments.

The webinar, themed “Environmental reporting in times of crisis: Covid-19” also called upon journalists to balance the focus given to policy makers in the boardrooms with that of the voices of the citizens for whom policies were made, because there is a part for them to play in tackling any crisis that befalls them.

While ushering in the panel of seven, the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) Executive director Dr Mithika Mwenda, said the organisation birthed the ACCER Awards in 2013 to help increase focus on climate change stories in newsrooms, where it was always pushed to the back burner.

“Many media houses do not find environment and climate change stories sexy, and therefore despite the fact that the climate crisis has led to the loss of lives and continues to distabilise us, much focus is given politics without the policy makers being pushed to be more accountable,” said Dr Mwenda, a multiple international award winner for the work he has done in increasing environmental conservation through his push for climate justice.

He said the initiative that targets African journalists had helped improve the focus on the continent’s story.

The webinar attended by at least 140 people from around the world, based the discussion of the day on the topic: “Environmental Journalism in Times of Crisis: Covid-19” with the panel focusing on the challenges of environmental journalism, the opportunities for journalists and expectations of non-media stakeholders on environment and climate change reporting.

Chief of the African Climate Policy Center (ACPC) of United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA),Dr James Murombedzi, said Africa’s voice needed to be heard better in the global decision-making table, where policy frameworks were designed, but with less science from the continent to find solutions that would best work for us.

“There is adequate capacity in Africa to interpret the science and use the same to guide policy formation and citizens involvement in tackling crises,” he said, adding that it was sad that Africa relied on solutions suggested by people who had no clue what went on in Africa.

“How do journalists ensure that the citizens understand and participate in the response to the crises such as covid-19 and climate change,” he asked, then added that the role of journalists to inform was key in ensuring the right balance and democracy, which is “dependent on the information that goes out to policy makers and citizens. All these depend on the availability of information, of which media is the custodian”.

He urged journalists to enrich themselves with knowledge of the local happenings to enable them to push for accountability for development and policy issues.

Lilian Odera of Kenya Television Network, said it was the responsibility of media and journalists to correctly interpret technical issues to the society and policy makers, and appeal to the latter to at least prioritise matters of climate change, even though the Covid-19 is also a crisis.

“As journalists we are also in this same environment and are equally affected by the crises of climate change and even this coronavirus. What we must do is keep abreast with the developments by always knowing how to merge expert opinion, our observations and the society’s opinion to bring out what will in the end cause action from all quarters in tackling any crisis that befalls us,” said Ms Odera.

She said even though critical issuesmade it hard for journalists give climate change adequate attention, all was not lost.

Kofi Adu Domfeh of Ghana, who is also a two-time winner or the ACCER Awards, urged journalists to recognise their role and the opportunity they have in saving humanity by highlighting matters of climate change and not also shy away from competing for the awards that would reward them for such acts.

He, too, urged journalists to see the opportunity in writing about Covid-19 and appropriately linking it to other problems such as the climate crisis. “For example, Covid-19 has so many links to the environment we live in. The environmental implications of this disease, for instance, are so many, and through journalists we can help tackle them.”

Deputy Director General of Cameroon Radio TV, Emmanuel Wongibe said climate change and Covid-19 are twin crises that the world economies must balance between in response.

He was sad that the Covid-19 pandemic had pushed all other topics, including climate change to the back burner, but said there was hope for journalists to link the disease and its effects to several other issues, the climate crisis included. He said journalists needed to think beyond the normal to help push for prioritisation of environment and climate change in allocation of resources financial resources.

“Climate and Covid-19 crises are not events but both processes that will stay with us for long. They call for a sustained attention, and we have to juggle both in our sharing of resources,” he added.

Senior Policy Officer, Climate Change and Desertification Control at African Union CommissionLeah Wanambwa Naess, called forbalance between science, policy public opinion in stories from journalists, as well as checking of facts at a time of crisis, like the world was in. “Give us something solid, research and fact check, so that the stories do not give room for speculation but answer all the questions that the audience might otherwise seek from unreliable sources and cause unnecessary negative effects,” she said.

Panel moderator Eugene Nfrongwa, who is an environment journalist from Cameroon and an Energy Thematic Lead at PACJA, said it was painful how African journalists knew everything happening in the global scene but paid little attention to the developments within the continent concerning climate change and policies.

Augustine Njamnshi, the continental Africa Coalition for Sustainable Energy and Access coordinator, who is based in Cameroon sought media’s help in pushing for economies to accord climate change adequate attention to prevent destruction and deaths.

“Where has the money for stimulus projects for countries suddenly come from? They are only helping now because Covid-19 is running a 100-metre race, while climate change, which is here to stay, is running a marathon,” he said.

Several participants raised questions, some which were addressed by the panellists.

“Do we envision a greener recovery path,” asked Joe Ageyo, a Citizen TV journalist in Kenya.

“Are citizens taking ownership of the climate issue as a result of journalists’ work? A journalist has to look for a sexy topic. That has not helped address the climate crisis,” said Ibrahim Sane, a media specialist in Senegal.

Journalists have until September 30, 2020 to submit stories for the competition through accerawards@pacja.org. The stories must have been published between August 2018 and August 2020, either in English or French. The categories fall under print, TV, radio and digital categories.

Kofi Adu Domfeh honored with Al Gore’s Climate Reality Leader Green Ring

Ghanaian journalist and climate advocate, Kofi Adu Domfeh has joined a global community of trained Climate Reality Leaders already working together to fight the climate crisis. 

He has been honoured with the Green Ring Pin by Former US Vice President Al Gore, Founder of The Climate Reality Project.

The Green Ring is awarded to Climate Reality Leaders who have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to their roles as climate communicators and activists.

“The green ring pin is representative of your participation within the Climate Reality Leadership Corps, and we hope that you will wear it proudly whenever you are completing an Act of Leadership or representing Climate Reality in your environmental advocacy work,” said a statement of honour.

Domfeh was part of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps Global Training, a virtual event to train attendees with practical skills and knowledge to build an equitable and inclusive movement for climate action and climate justice.

He says the training has empowered him to continue to educate people and communities about the climate crisis.

“It is everyone’s responsibility to care for the environment. The climate crisis can be tackled when all hands are on deck,” said Domfeh. “We cannot relent in writing about climate change and its devastating impacts; we will strive in educating and mobilizing people to take climate action for a better, green, sustainable future”.

In response to COVID-19, Climate Reality moved programming online to ensure that climate activists around the world could participate in the movement for climate solutions safely and effectively.

More than 10,000 people signed up for the virtual training, which included educational panel discussions, keynotes, and presentations from world-class scientists, NGO, and business leaders, and grassroots organizers.

 

Kofi Adu Domfeh is the Ghana Bureau Chief of Africa Climate Reports and the Founder/Convener of CLAP Gh – Climate, Livelihood and Agriculture Platform. The environmental group mobilizes young professionals to become part of the momentum created by the Paris Agreement on Climate Change to partner all interest groups to share knowledge and take action.

He has now joined a network of more than 21,000 Climate Reality Leaders from 154 countries around the world, working together to build public awareness of global climate challenges, share the good news about the practical solutions in our hands today, and strengthen public support for leaders at all levels of society, who are committed to climate action.

Response to climate crisis pivotal to COVID-19 recovery

UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, the global response to the climate crisis is pivotal in turning the COVID-19 recovery into a real opportunity to do things right for the future.

According to him, we are all living through a global crisis like no other as the COVID-19 pandemic continues its march of suffering and death around the world.  

“The unfolding climate crisis starkly illustrates the stakes and the imperative for that action,” he told students of Tsinghua University.  “It is a health crisis… an economic crisis… a social crisis… a human crisis”.

The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare severe and systemic inequalities both within and between countries and communities.

More broadly, it has underscored the world’s fragilities – not just in the face of an epic health emergency, but in our faltering response to the climate crisis, lawlessness in cyberspace, and the risks of nuclear proliferation.  

It is obvious that the only way to recover better is by working together. But that is also far from guaranteed.

“Done right, we can steer the recovery toward a more inclusive, resilient and sustainable path and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change,” said Mr. Guterres. “But poorly coordinated policies risk locking in – or even worsening – already unsustainable inequalities, reversing hard-won development gains and poverty reduction, and a high emissions future”. 

The UN boss has asked all countries to consider six climate positive actions as they rescue, rebuild and reset their economies.

First, we need to make our societies more resilient and ensure a just transition.

Second, we need green jobs and sustainable growth.

Third, bailouts of industry, aviation and shipping should be conditional on aligning with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Fourth, we need to stop wasting money on fossil fuel subsidies and the funding of coal.
There is no such thing as clean coal, and coal should have no place in any rationale recovery plan. It is deeply concerning that new coal power plants are still being planned and financed, even though renewables offer three times more jobs, and are now cheaper than coal in most countries.

Fifth, we need to consider climate risk in all decision-making. Every financial decision must take account of environmental and social impacts.

This is more important than ever in the coming months as companies, investors and countries make far-reaching financial decisions about the future.

We need investors to demand that companies reveal transition plans to reach net zero emissions.  The equation should be simple: zero plans will yield zero investment.

Sixth, we need to work together. Global challenges require global solutions.

It is imperative that G20 countries lead by example.

All G20 countries have also been asked to lead the green recovery, commit to net zero emissions before 2050 and to submit more ambitious national climate plans to the Paris Agreement before COP 26 in Glasgow next year.

Mr. Guterres said unity and solidarity for action is needed more than ever, emphasizing that young people have been humanity’s greatest asset in the struggle against climate change.

“Your voices, your determination, your collective purchasing power are all essential to hold governments and corporations to account,” he said.

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

Renewable energy in Africa shows can help towards a just recovery from COVID-19

A new report shows that Africa is slowly planning a renewable energy powered future.

Climate justice activist organizations, 350Africa.org and WoMin African Alliance, commissioned the research for Renewable Energy in Africa: An opportunity in a time of crisis before the COVID-19 health pandemic swept across the globe, to map out Africa’s ambition towards dealing with the continent’s other crisis - its energy crisis.

COVID-19 is exacerbating existing developmental issues like access to energy, bringing to attention the need to develop renewable energy as part of a just recovery from the pandemic.  

With the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 impacting lives and livelihoods, governments are searching for solutions.

While some countries have made commitments to increasing their energy coming from renewable sources, there is abundant potential for more to be done. This will not only support decentralised, homegrown development, but will also assist communities across the continent to counter the impacts of the virus and future shocks.

Importantly, for renewable energy to be a success in Africa, the rights and collective decisions of local communities have to be taken into consideration. 

The report shows that by 2030 renewable energy installations are projected to go up to over 77GW. This is a massive increase from the less than 15GW currently operating.

However, by 2030 coal will still have a 43% share of installed energy capacity in Africa. The uptake of renewable energy technologies in the form of geothermal, solar, ocean wave, wind and small hydro, thus falls far short of that of fossil fuels, including diesel and fossil gas installations.

In the context of the global climate, ecological and health crises, more ambitious plans are needed from African governments to leapfrog dirty energy and secure people’s access to clean energy.

“Renewable energy is already well suited to Africa. Many people live out of reach of centralised grids, however in a continent rich in wind, hydro and solar resources, they should be easily deployed to meet the needs of these unserved and underserved populations,” said Landry Ninteretse, the Regional Team Lead for 350Africa.org.

The report, which maps renewable energy projects across ten African countries (Botswana, DRC, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda), shows that where issues have been encountered with renewable energy, they are largely due to the implementation of the projects.

The hugely detrimental impacts of the operation of fossil fuel plants to people and the environment are absent. However, the problems in implementation of large renewable energy projects can mirror those of fossil fuel projects. The report therefore highlights the importance of community participation and consent in the planning of the project, agreement on community benefits including having access and right to the energy produced and the opportunity and ability of the community to own all or part of the project.

Trusha Reddy, Head of WoMin’s Energy and Climate Justice Programme noted that “where renewable energy projects are sited and constructed, it should be done in a way that reduces negative impacts. In constructing renewable energy, we need to be sensitive to the ecological and community impacts - particularly those of women, and to ensure the benefits are shared equitably. We also need to be wary of blindly following an industrial model of renewable energy development which involves massive destructive mining of minerals for components. Different models should be explored.”

Globally, there has been a significant push to move to renewable energy, as it has the potential of not only transforming the lives of millions but is kinder to the planet.

However, in order for renewable energy to be truly transformative it needs to reach the energy and economically poor; the move to 100% clean energy should avoid the old models of energy generation that have denied people access to energy and have resulted in land grabs, environmental destruction, pollution and above all the fueling of climate change.