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2009 IFEJ CONGRESS Notice for Indian Journalists and IFEJ Conference Application Form Letter to Journalists for IFEJ-IPS 5thTranche DELEGATE REGISTRATION FORM FOR SELF-NOMINATED APPLICANTS IFEJ Cong Oct09-Climate Equity Media oct 09 IFEJ Cong Oct09-Global Journalism IFEJ Cong Oct09-ifj climate change IFEJ Cong Oct09-Prayas_India En Trends_IFEJ_28Oct_09
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISTS (IFEJ) CONGRESS Theme: “Bridging North-South Differences in Reporting Climate Change: Background The media can to a large extent help to bridge this divide by providing information on global, regional and local issues. For instance, the actions that developing countries take to mitigate and adapt to climate change at home – as part of their global commitment or as ongoing development activities – can be reported much more comprehensively to counter the impression that developing countries have been reluctant to take steps to restrict their greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, the role of the private sector in addressing such issues has also been under-reported. Similarly, the media, both print and electronic, can analyse trends and issues to help opinion-makers like parliamentarians, government officials and NGOs in both the global North and South aware of the complexities of the problem and come to a more reasoned conclusion, based on such analysis. For example, the New York Times recently carried a long article on what is popularly known as “the Asian Brown Cloud”, which describes how poor women are using inefficient cook stoves which pollute the atmosphere and cause global warming. Instead of blaming poor consumers around the world for worsening the global situation, such media exposure can help find ways of solving both problems at one time. Although in recent years climate change is receiving a great deal of coverage in the print and electronic media, particularly following the 4th assessment report of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 with Al Gore) chaired by Dr R.K. Pachauri, head of The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI) in New Delhi, there are major differences in the way the media in the global North and South report climate change. In South Asia, as many as 210 million people directly in the Himalaya and 1.3 billion downstream in the Indo-Gangetic agrarian belt – one-fifth of the world’s population - are already facing the threat of the receding glaciers which will eventually lead to crippling droughts. In terms of numbers of people affected in one region, this is the largest number anywhere in the world. One can add several tens of millions living in the low-lying coastal areas of Bangladesh, who will have to be evacuated as ocean levels rise. South Asia has received scant attention in the reporting on climate change in the North and, for that matter, other countries in the global South. Furthermore, media attention in the North, which often sets the agenda for the rest of the globe, particularly with global news channels like the BBC and CNN, has by and large been confined to the mitigation of greenhouse gases through a range of restrictions, market mechanisms and the like. It has largely ignored reporting on adaptation, which will affect countries in the South far more adversely. Developing countries are already reeling under the impacts of droughts and floods. The risk of communicable diseases emerging with climate change is, again, first felt by developing countries. The ethical issue of industrial countries being responsible for global warming while developing countries face the brunt has still not received the media attention it deserves in some developed countries, even while some industrial countries are now calling upon big emerging economies like China, India and Brazil to cap their emissions by the time UNFCCC meets in Copenhagen this December. Objective: The Congress: The IFEJ has met annually after that in cities such as Paris (twice), Boston, Budapest, Cebu (Philippines), Sri Lanka, Bogota, Cairo, Germany, New Delhi, St Petersburg and Stockholm. D’Monte was re-elected President for three years in Cairo in 2000 and in St Petersburg in 2003, was nominated to serve on the Administrative Council. In 2009, the IFEJ, which is 17 years old, in collaboration with the Forum of Environmental Journalists of India (FEJI) and CMS Academy of Communication and Convergence Studies (www.cmsacademy.org), New Delhi, is holding its annual congress in New Delhi, October 28-30. The theme will be “Bridging North-South Differences in Reporting Climate Change: Journalists’ role in Reaching an Ambitious Agreement at COP15 in Copenhagen”. The congress is supported by Denmark, the COP15 host country. The Society of Environmental Journalists in the US, which has some 1,900 members, is also collaborating with IFEJ in organising this Congress. The Congress, which will be held concurrently with the 5th CMS VATAVARAN – Environment and Wildlife Film Festival 2009, will also be followed by an exciting six-day all-expenses-paid field trip to Leh in Ladakh from October 31 to November 5, offering journalists an exclusive opportunity to film, photograph and write on Himalayan glacial melt. The IFEJ is a founding member of the Com+ initiative – Communicators for Sustainable Development (www.complusalliance.org) -- together with the World Bank, Global Environment Facility, InterPress Service, Conservation International, BBC, DevTV, Television Trust for the Environment, National Geographic and several other partners. It runs an occasional feature service with InterPress Service under the umbrella of Com+ for journalists from developing and industrial countries on sustainable development issues, among many other initiatives: http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/sustdev/index.asp The IFEJ Secretary, Dr Robert Thomas from Loyola University in New Orleans, runs the listserv, which has members from over 70 countries and manages the website: www.ifej.org Draft Agenda
Inaugural Session
Day 2: 29th October
Day 3: 30th October
Side Sessions:
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