Environmental journalists undergo training

A two months training course on Environmental Reporting, organized by the International Institute of Journalism (IIJ), of InWent Capacity Building International, for fifteen journalist selected from eight countries has begum in Berlin, Germany.

The selected participants were from Ghana, Indonesia, China, India, Nigeria, Tanzania, Bangladesh, and Jordan.

The course is aimed at equipping journalists to be familiar with the most common and urgent environmental issues, assess and appreciate environmental policy decision, research all relevant facts of environmental stories as well as help reporters improve their writing skills.

In a welcome address, Ms Astrid Kohl, Director of the Institute said journalists and the news media play a decisive role in creating awareness of threats to the environment and its effects on the material conditions of life.

She said journalists have a role to play in changing peoples' attitude and they equally have an important role in the combat to preserve the world's rain forest.

Ms Kohl said journalists could fulfil this role if they were familiar with the problems and could present them to the public in a manner that they would understand.

Mentioning some of the course contents, she said it covered objectives principles and instruments in implementing environmental policies, protection of water, air and soil- sources of pollution and important harmful substances, agriculture and the environment- sustainable utilization on natural resources, climate change and global warming, and land degradation.

Ms Kohl said InWent Capacity Building is a non profited organization, with worldwide operation, dedicated to human resource development, advance training, and dialogue.

Also the organization has been offering advance training for print and news agency journalists from developing and transitional countries since 1964.

She said special online programme have been added in recent times to strengthen the press freedom in the partner countries of the German Development Cooperation and improve the conditions for democratization, social and economic development.

The IIJ in it capacity, represents the key pillar in the media development work of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), she said, adding that it offers up to 40 training courses per year in Germany and abroad for 400 and 500 media representatives.

From: Regina Benneh, GNA Correspondent, Berlin, Germany