Training on Climate Change Adaptation for Myanmar Journalists

Background

The Rural Livelihoods and Climate Change Adaptation in the Himalayas (Himalica) Initiative is financed by the European Union and aims to support poor and vulnerable mountain communities in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region in mitigating and adapting to climate change. The Initiative works to reduce poverty, increase the resilience of local communities, and ensure the equitable and sustainable wellbeing of men and women in the Hindu Kush Himalayas by building the capacity of local institutions, promoting new livelihood options, and encouraging regional cooperation in the promotion of equitable approaches to sustainable mountain development.

The lives of mountain people in the HKH region are affected by climate change. There is increased frequency and duration of extreme climate events and natural disasters aggravating erosion and land degradation, with consequent decline in soil fertility and crop yields. Further, there is great uncertainty about the rate of change. The capacity of mountain people to deal with these growing stresses is limited which in the long-run could deepen poverty. To address this, international and regional collaborative action is required to close the knowledge gap, where managing this knowledge is vital, in order to ensure that policymakers are kept well informed. To this end, institutional capacity of all the stakeholders needs to be developed, and overall efforts are needed to enable consensus on the adoption of common policies at regional level to mitigate the impact of climate change and forge clear commitment to support the poor, especially the most vulnerable communities.

Objectives of the Training

As a demand-driven Initiative designed to respond to the needs of the member countries, training journalists and other media personnel is seen as a major step toward fulfilling the mandate of building the capacity of climate change adaptation communicators. Journalists cover news related to climate change adaptation on a daily basis, and yet they often lack the basic conceptual understanding of the subject they write about. Therefore, training a group of climate change adaptation communicators is seen as a major milestone under Knowledge Management and Communication component of Himalica.

The training will therefore bring together 20 media practitioners (reporters, editors, and freelancers) from both broadcast and print media from Myanmar’s media industry at Nyaung Shwe, Inlay, Shan State, for a five-day learning experience, including visits to Himalica’s two pilot sites. The training programme has been designed in such a way that participants get clarity on the concept of adaptation to change and develop skills for trickling down the concept to grassroots stakeholders in Myanmar.

The following outcomes are expected from the training programme

1. The capacity of the selected journalists in understanding and reporting issues related to climate change adaptation in Myanmar is enhanced.
2. Journalists as climate change adaptation communicators are able to contribute to the ongoing climate change adaptation discourse in Myanmar.
3. Journalists reach out this knowledge to a wider audience through regular reportage of CCA-related issues.