Media reporting on socioecological resilience

About the training workshop

Over the years, there has been an increase in reporting on environment, climate change, wildlife, and sustainability-related issues but only limited training opportunities available to build the capacities of environmental journalists. Covering the environment in geopolitical, social, and scientific contexts require expert knowledge and the ability to effectively frame environmental stories. WWF-Pakistan and ICIMOD are addressing this gap by organizing the second Environmental Journalism Workshop, under ICIMOD’s Hindu Kush Karakoram Pamir Landscape (HKPL) initiative. This a continuation of the workshop conducted for environmental journalists in Gilgit-Baltistan in 2020.

Through this training, journalists will be able to improve their knowledge and capacity to effectively report on various environment-related issues, which is crucial in building socioeconomic and environmental resilience by highlighting issues around ecotourism, agriculture, and land use change, while promoting the concept of ‘green economy’ with sustainable ecosystem health. This workshop will also share environmental sustainability concerns and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the livelihoods of mountain people and ecosystem health.

The workshop is based on the key findings of the research conducted by WWF-Pakistan and ICIMOD on land use change, Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), migration and food security, risk assessment of tourism enterprises. These will enable the journalists from Gilgit-Baltistan to enhance their understanding of key environmental issues and possible solutions, and will also equip them with ways to better report issues in the mainstream media and on social media. The government of Gilgit-Baltistan and the Journalists Association of Gilgit-Baltistan have already requested ICIMOD and WWF-Pakistan to continue supporting the journalists of Gilgit-Baltistan in terms of continuing the workshop.

Learning objectives

• Deeper understanding of key environmental challenges and issues in Gilgit-Baltistan and HKPL
• Better understanding of environmental issues and policies in Gilgit Baltistan and the implementation challenges
• Better understanding of environmental reports produced by ICIMOD, WWF-Pakistan and Gilgit-Baltistan – Environmental Protection Agency (GB – EPA)
• Better understanding of environmental reporting, social media activism, fake news, and the climate crisis
• Creation of online networks for smooth flow of information among journalists and experts

Expected outcomes

• Capacity building of journalists associated with press clubs of Gilgit Baltistan on environmental and policy reporting
• Better understanding of social media and its effective use to raise environmental awareness
• Ability to identify fake news on climate change
• Story idea pitching to international media
• Creation of a WhatsApp group for greater coordination among journalists and experts of ICIMOD and WWF-Pakistan
• Participating journalists will produce at least one news piece/broadcast package as an outcome of the workshop

Expected participants

Around 40-45 journalists from 10 press clubs of Gilgit-Baltistan, writers associated with e-newspapers, bloggers, freelance journalists, and reporters from media houses will be attending the media workshop. Students from media studies and relevant disciplines are also encouraged to participate in the workshop.

Since there are few women journalists working in Gilgit-Baltistan, the press clubs of Gilgit-Baltistan were requested to nominate at least one female journalist from their press clubs. The selection of journalists will be made by the Gilgit-Baltistan Union of Journalists and the management of press clubs, keeping in view their contribution to environmental journalism.

Experts from ICIMOD, WWF-Pakistan, Karakoram International University (KIU) and Gilgit-Baltistan – Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will participate in the workshop to acquaint journalists on the current research and to share a regional perspective on the environmental challenges in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) and HKPL. From academia, Karakoram International University (KIU) will present their perspective on environmental journalism.

Trainers

For a broader journalistic perspective, senior environmental journalists and communication experts will be training the participating journalists.  The details of the trainers are provided below:

Syed Muhammad Abubakar, Knowledge Management and Communication Officer, ICIMOD

Alina Shigri, Anchor, 92 News

The workshop will discuss the following research-related issues:

• Organic potential of Gilgit-Baltistan/sustainable agriculture
• Tourism Satellite Account and sustainable tourism
• Land use planning
• Food and nutrition security in Gilgit-Baltistan
• Ecosystem services and health
• Return migration and COVID-19
• Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs)

Programme agenda

Day 1 – 23 September 2021