June 24, Sigatoka, Fiji – Understanding how and where money is being spent to fight the impact of climate change in the Pacific is at the core of a Pacific Media Masterclass being held this week.
The media session is part of the Pacific Regional Climate Change Finance Meeting being held in Fiji from 25-27th June.
Climate finance is critical for Pacific countries as it helps stem the impact of climate change and helps protect the lives and livelihoods of Pacific people. Supporting Pacific media to understand how it works, where funding comes from and how to understand what is being done in their countries helps ensure a more open and transparent environment.
“As the global discussions on climate change grow louder, we’re hearing more and more of the strong role climate change finance plays and for us in the region, it plays a crucial role,” said Ms Vuki Buadromo, Project Manager, Institutional Strengthening in Pacific Island Countries to Adapt to Climate Change (ISACC) Project.
“This particular masterclass is helping to introduce Pacific media to the world of climate change finance and the myriad of complex topics within this area. The more our Pacific media understand this topic, the better placed they are to provide our Pacific island communities with relevant climate news.”
A key feature of the masterclass will be learning more about the different avenues for climate change finance information and where credible, reliable and relevant information can be sourced.
“We’re pleased to be able to support this training as there are strong linkages between SPREP’s Pacific Climate Change Portal and the Climate Finance Navigator Tool with Pacific island media. The tools will feature Pacific news articles, as well as act as a source of credible information to help support news items,” said Ms Kiri Yapp of Griffith University’s Pacific iCLIM Project.
The journalists from the region will also form the Pacific Media team tasked with providing coverage for the Regional Climate Change Finance Meeting over the coming days.
The participating journalists and media practitioners are members of the Pacific Environment Journalists Network from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
The masterclass is jointly facilitated by the Pacific iCLIM Project, The Pacific Community (SPC) Institutional Strengthening for Pacific Island Countries to Adapt to Climate Change (ISAAC) project, and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP). It is in partnership with the Pacific Environment Journalists Network (PEJN).
The Regional Climate Finance meeting is jointly organised by the Pacific Community (SPC), Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur International Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and Griffith University, with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Australian Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
The masterclass is being facilitated by Ms Lisa Kingsberry, Communications Team Leader, Geoscience, Energy and Maritime (GEM) Division, of the Pacific Community (SPC); Ms Leanne Moananu, Communications Support Officer of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP); and Ms Angelica Salele-Sefo, Outreach Support Officer of SPREP.
For more information please contact:
Ms Lisa Kingsberry, Communications Team Leader, Geoscience, Energy and Maritime (GEM) Division, Pacific Community (SPC) – Email: [email protected]
Ms Nanette Woonton, Acting Communications & Outreach Adviser, Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) – Email: [email protected]