Oxfam forms group of 35 journalists to highlight climate change issues

JournalismPakistan.com | Published: 16 April 2015

Oxfam has formed a group of 35 journalists to focus on climate change and food security issues in Pakistan. The initiative aims to empower independent reporting on these critical topics.
Summary

ISLAMABAD: Oxfam formed a group of 35 journalists Thursday to highlight issues of climate change, food security, livelihood and malnourishment.

The journalists in the group - “Journalists for Hunger and Climate Justice,” - would work independently on the issues while Oxfam would provide them technical and logistic support to do stories.

The workshop on media sensitization was attended by journalists from all parts of the country including interior Sindh, Quetta and Federally Administrated Tribal Areas. Majority of the journalists complained about their media organizations for not giving space/airtime to stories on climate change and environment.

Zofeen Ebrahim, journalist and activist, said that coverage on issues of climate change and food security has increased in the country over the last couple of years but “still there is need to sensitize journalists and media organizations on devastating impacts of climate change on overall life of everybody.”

Shafqat Aziz, organizer of the event and an employee of Oxfam, said that his organization will provide all needed support to journalists to highlight issues of food security and climate change.

“We believe the journalists can push the federal and provincial governments to formulate policies and legislation to fight food insecurity through their impact-making news stories,” he said.

KEY POINTS:

Oxfam established the Journalists for Hunger and Climate Justice group.
The group consists of 35 journalists from various regions of Pakistan.
Oxfam will provide technical and logistic support for impactful storytelling.
Many journalists reported inadequate coverage of climate issues in their media organizations.
The initiative aims to influence policy making on food security and climate action.