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THE Earth Journalism Network (EJN), a project of Internews, and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security has announced that 28 journalists from low- and middle-income countries have been awarded fellowships to cover the 28th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP28), as part of the Climate Change Media Partnership (CCMP) program. Twenty fellows will attend and report on COP28 in person in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from November 30 to December 12, 2023, and eight fellows will cover the conference remotely from their home countries.
COP28 will see the first-ever Global Stocktake since the Paris Agreement, assessing the progress by countries to date on climate mitigation, adaptation, and equitable implementation. The Fellows will receive support and guidance from seasoned climate journalists affiliated with EJN’s global network of trainers.
The 20 fellows covering COP28 in Dubai will participate in orientation activities, daily briefings, interviews with high-level officials, and other interactions organized by the Stanley Center and EJN to inform and facilitate quality reporting on developments and outcomes at COP28.
The four fellows from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and four from Lower Mekong countries will cover COP28 remotely, with opportunities for mentorship, networking, and virtual interviews with officials and others at the conference. The MENA region continues to experience worsening climate effects such as more frequent droughts and heat waves. The Mekong River Basin is likewise home to communities that are some of the most vulnerable in the world to climate impacts including erosion, sea level rise, and flooding.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change AR6 Synthesis Report states that climate change is an unequivocal threat to human well-being and planetary health, and the window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all is rapidly closing. This year, the heat index in the Middle East, which produces a third of the world’s oil, climbed at times to an almost unsurvivable level for human beings, with temperatures rising at twice the rate of the global average. The UN climate negotiations will convene in Dubai amid increasing calls for developed countries—who have historically been the most responsible for burning fossil fuels and driving climate change—to fully meet their obligations and commitments to provide climate finance to low- and middle-income countries.
EJN, along with Panos London and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), formed the CCMP in 2007 to enable journalists from low- and middle-income countries to attend and report from the annual UN climate summits. This year marks the fifth time the Stanley Center and EJN have collaborated on the CCMP fellowship program. Since launching in 2007, the CCMP has supported more than 400 journalists to report on location from the annual UN climate summit. Without support such as this, people in low- and middle-income countries—which bear the brunt of climate change despite contributing relatively little to global emissions—might have had to rely solely on global wire services for news about UN climate negotiations.
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October 10, 2023 @ 6:33 GMT|
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