From SOUL BEAT AFRICA - where communication and media are central to AFRICA's social and economic development
In this issue of The Soul Beat:
* CLIMATE CHANGE responses and communication
* COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION in protecting the environment
* JOIN THE CALL for a Strong Climate Treaty
* LINKING ENVIRONMENT to development, health, and gender
* THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA related to climate change and other environmental issues
* MORE INFORMATION ON ENVIRONMENT on the Soul Beat Africa website
* Environmental COMPETITIONS AND AWARDS for visual arts and media
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This issue of The Soul Beat provides a selection of programme experiences, strategic thinking documents, resource materials, and awards and funding opportunities related to the use of communication and media in raising awareness and stimulating action around environmental issues in Africa. It includes information related to climate change responses, community participation, the integration of environment and development, and the role of the media.
If you would like your organisation's communication work or research and resource documents to be featured on the Soul Beat Africa website and in The Soul Beat newsletters, please contact soulbeat@comminit.com
To subscribe to The Soul Beat, click here or send an email to soulbeat@comminit.com with a subject of "subscribe".
COMMUNICATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE
1. AfricaAdapt - Africa
Launched in 2009, AfricaAdapt is a bilingual (French/English) network that works to facilitate the flow of climate change adaptation knowledge for sustainable livelihoods between researchers, policy makers, civil society organisations, and communities that are vulnerable to climate variability and change across Africa. The network is a collaboration between the United Kingdom (UK)-based Institute of Development Studies and three African organisations: Environment and Development in the Third World (ENDA), the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), and the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC). The network uses an interactive web-based information portal, as well as other media such as community radio, mobile phones, and print publications, to share information.
Contact Abebe Tadege Atadege@icpac.net OR Binetou Diagne binetou.diagne@gmail.com OR Blane Harvey b.harvey@ids.ac.uk OR Jacqueline Nnam jnnam@fara-africa.org OR AfricaAdapt info@africa-adapt.net AND help@africa-adapt.net
2. Climate Change and Human Rights: A Rough Guide
This report, published by the International Council on Human Rights Policy in 2008, discusses the human rights impacts of climate change and maps research agendas. It argues that human rights principles can guide climate change policy by focusing on individual suffering and exposure to risk. It includes forewords by Mary Robinson and Romina Picolotti and bases its discussion on the observation that climate change responses can be made more effective if policymakers include human rights thresholds (minimum acceptable levels of protection) when assessing future impacts of climate change and of adaptation and mitigation strategies.
3. Africa Talks Climate - Africa
Initiated ahead of the December 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference Copenhagen (COP15), Africa Talks Climate is a research and communication initiative of the BBC World Service Trust (WST) funded by the British Council. It is designed to provide insight into the public's understanding of climate change in Africa, highlighting their concerns and experiences, in order to stimulate awareness of climate change and enhance political attention and action. The research seeks to inform and improve communication around this complex issue.
Click here to contact the BBC World Service Trust though an online form.
COMMUNITY EDUCATION AND PARTICIPATION
4. Miombo Environmental Evening Education (3E) - Zambia
The Miombo Environmental Evening Education (3E) is a project by the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) Southern Africa Regional Programme Office (SARPO), supported by the founder of M magazine through WWF Sweden, that seeks to encourage communities (especially schoolchildren and female adults) in the Bangweulu basin in North Eastern Zambia to take responsibility for conservation and restoration of the environment. The project seeks to popularise environmental issues through mobile film shows and participatory social learning in schools and communities.
Contact Lilian Goredema Lgoredema@wwfsarpo.org
5. A Community Guide to Environmental Health
By Jeff Conant and Pam Fadem
Developed in collaboration with communities from around the world, this resource provides practical and comprehensive strategies for grassroots groups that are organising to create better health and environmental conditions in their communities. The illustrated training and reference guide includes immediate preventive and first aid measures, as well as longer-term strategies for understanding and addressing the root causes of environmental health problems. It is designed to help health promoters, development workers, educators, activists, and community leaders take charge of their communities' environmental health.
6. TUNZA - Acting for a Better World
By Wagaki Mwangi and Angela Churie-Kallhauge
This United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) booklet for youth carries the title TUNZA, meaning "to treat with care or affection" in Kiswahili, a subregional language in Eastern Africa with links to many other languages. The booklet seeks to increase awareness on environmental issues among young people and to provide them with tips on how to address these issues in their communities. It is intended to reflect the innovation, creativity, and optimism of young people in taking action to safeguard the future of the environment.
7. Calabash - Namibia
The Calabash project is a civil society capacity building programme for countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region that aims to increase the ability of civil society to participate effectively in environmental decision-making and governance. Calabash is managed by the Southern African Institute for Environmental Assessment (SAIEA), which is headquartered in Windhoek, Namibia. The programme objectives are to identify and expand opportunities for civil society involvement in decision-making through environmental impact assessment (EIA) processes. Calabash also aims to define issues and tools for integrating environmental planning, assessment, and management into small-scale, community-driven development.
Contact Peter Croal Peter_Croal@acdi-cida.gc.ca
8. Living in a Finite Environment (LIFE) - Namibia
Initiated in 1993, Living in a Finite Environment (LIFE) is a programme by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) through an agreement with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that works to fight underdevelopment, segregation, economic disparities, and overexploited resources in Namibia. LIFE seeks to improve the quality of life for rural Namibians by assisting communities to acquire increased benefits in an equitable manner by gaining control over and sustainably managing their natural resources. The project provides assistance to comprehensive community-based natural resource management programmes through the provision of technical support, training, grants, and regional coordination and information dissemination.
Contact Esma le Roux eleroux@wwf.org.za
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Join the Call for a Strong Climate Treaty!
People are invited to add their names to an online petition.
Click here for more information and to sign the petition.
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LINKING ENVIRONMENT TO DEVELOPMENT, HEALTH, AND GENDER
9. MDGs and the Environment: Are Environmental Institutions 'Fit for Purpose'?
By Neil Bird
This opinion piece stresses the centrality of institutions - agencies and other bodies working to create linkages between local, national, and international levels - to meeting environmental commitments. The author argues that it is national government in particular that has a role to play in contributing to Millennium Development Goal (MDG) #7, which relates to ensuring environmental sustainability, in that it sets out the necessary policy and regulatory frameworks and provides the planning and monitoring of compliance.
10. Healthy People, Healthy Ecosystems: A Manual on Integrating Health and Family Planning into Conservation Projects
By Judy Oglethorpe, Cara Honzak, and Cheryl Margoluis
This manual, published in 2008, outlines an approach that integrates health and voluntary family planning into conservation projects, developing synergies that improve the health of both people and ecosystems. The approach, called the population-health-environment (PHE) approach, involves conservation organisations partnering with the health sector. According to the manual, taking advantage of synergies between human and ecosystem health can improve maternal and child health; reduce unsustainable pressures on the environment; promote sustainable ecosystem services; and often improve community food security and livelihoods.
11. Women and the Environment
Stressing the value of examining sustainable development through a gender perspective, this United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) publication explores specific policies, strategies, and practices in environmental use and conservation. The purpose of the book is to make the often hidden links between women and the environment visible, with an explicit focus on the gender-related aspects of land, water, and biodiversity conservation and management. UNEP hopes that "Women and the Environment" will inspire the environmental and sustainable development community to better understand the importance of gender, and to integrate a gender perspective across all of its work.
CLIMATE CHANGE, ENVIRONMENT, AND THE MEDIA
12. Our Climate, Our Future - Zimbabwe
Launched in February 2009, Our Climate, Our Future is a British Council/United Nations Education, Science, and Culture Organization (UNESCO) initiative which will continue until 2011. The initiative seeks to raise awareness about the effects of climate change in Zimbabwe. Working with youth, professionals, and networks, the initiative focuses on raising awareness and building relationships which lead to improved adaptation and mitigation policies, though activities such as media training workshops and a school poetry competition.
Contact Margaret Mzumara m.mzumara@unesco.org OR Venus Easwaran Jennings v.jennings@unesco.org
13. Whatever the Weather: Media Attitudes to Reporting Climate Change
By Rod Harbinson
This report from 2006 shares findings from a Panos survey that sought to explore existing perceptions and capacity for journalists to report on global climate change, and to share these with policy-makers. Interviews were conducted with journalists and media professionals in Honduras, Jamaica, Sri Lanka, and Zambia to give insights into the attitudes of journalists and the status of the media in these countries. The study found that, though nearly all the journalists agreed that climate change is a major issue, there is little knowledge among them about important environmental issues.
14. Kenya Environment and Science Journalists Association (KENSJA) - Kenya
Initiated in February 2007, KENSJA is a non-political, professional body for environmental and science journalists and communicators in Kenya. The project's goals are to improve the quality of environmental and science reporting, promote standards, and support environment and science journalists in Kenya. The organisation believes that in doing so KENSJA can act as a bridge between science, scientists, policy makers, and the public. KENSJA seeks to achieve its objectives through an online information sharing platform which provides opportunities for networking and advocacy.
Contact KENSJA kensja.net@gmail.com
15. Entangled in the Web of Life: Biodiversity and the Media - An IIED Briefing
By Mike Shanahan
This briefing document, published in 2008 by International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), explains why biodiversity loss will be an increasingly important story in the coming years and suggests ways for journalists to improve their reporting and make it mean more to their audiences. The briefing states that the media has under-reported the environmental challenge of reversing biodiversity loss, partly because researchers and policymakers have failed to communicate the issues in a way that is relevant to most people. It claims that "media coverage does not match the scale of the problem, not least because the term ‘biodiversity’ is itself poorly understood.... Journalists need to gear up to tell this story better by learning more about the issues and framing them in ways that make sense to their audiences."
16. Talking about a Revolution: Climate Change and the Media - An IIED Briefing
By Mike Shanahan
This IIED briefing paper on climate change and the media is based on published studies of how the media report on climate change in different countries and on the problems that persist in the way it is reported. The document emphasises the complexity of climate change reporting and recognises that, amidst criticisms of the media coverage, there has been improvement and that this improvement could increase with training for media outlets. It also states that ensuring relevance to audiences, including ways to address climate change that bring benefits, is a challenge, as is raising the profile of adaptation and the perspectives of the economically poor.
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MORE INFORMATION ON ENVIRONMENT ON THE SOUL BEAT AFRICA WEBSITE
If you are looking for more information related to environment and communication on the Soul Beat Africa website go to http://www.comminit.com/en/nodes/38,70
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AWARDS AND FUNDING
(Please go to these sections to view all the current awards and funding opportunities)
17. Picture This: Caring for the Earth - Photo Contest
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in partnership with the Olympus Corporation and the AFP (Agence France-Presse) Foundation, is organising a photo contest to highlight how the people of Africa are working towards MDG 7 - ensuring environmental sustainability - by mitigating the effects of climate change and environmental degradation in their countries, cities, and communities. The objective of the contest is to raise the visibility of solutions as opposed to capturing the damage caused by climate change, as well as portray the people of Africa as stewards and protectors of their environment.
Deadline: September 30 2009
18. Development and Climate (D&C) Days Film Festival
The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) are seeking films for their Development & Climate (D&C) Days Film Festival, which will run December 12 - 13 2009 during the United Nations Climate Change Conference Copenhagen 2009 (COP 15). Professional and non-professional film makers are invited to send short films (up to 10 minutes) on climate and development.
Deadline: October 1 2009
19. The SAB Environmentalist and Environmental Journalists of the Year Awards 2009
This year marks the 21st South African Breweries United (SAB) Environmental Journalists and Environmentalist of the Year Awards. Three of the awards carry a cash prize of R15,000 each as well as a trophy. Merit prizes carry a prize of R2,000 each. SAB has also introduced a new category, the Magqubu Ntombela and Ian Player Cub Award, which will honour environmental journalists starting out in the field; this carries a R5000 prize and trophy. Editors throughout South Africa are encouraged to identify their most promising young journalists who have been in the business for less than five years.
Deadline: October 9 2009
20. International Children's Painting Competition on the Environment
This competition is organised annually by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Japan-based Foundation for Global Peace and Environment (FGPE), Bayer, and Nikon Corporation. This year's competition will focus on "Biodiversity: Connecting with Nature". Children between the ages of 5 and 13 years may submit entries. The children’s paintings will focus on concrete actions to preserve biodiversity such as tree planting, marine and animal conservation, and restoration of coral reefs.
Deadline: April 15 2010
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To view previous environment-related issues of The Soul Beat see:
The Soul Beat 117 - Environment and Communication
The Soul Beat 68 - MDG #7 - Ensuring Environmental Sustainability
Click here to all view archived editions of The Soul Beat Newsletter.
