As the climate change debate rages globally, Panos Institute Southern Africa has also stepped up its efforts of enhancing journalists’ appreciation of the subject, and help them improve the quality and frequency of their reportage.
 

In June 2010, PSAf held a national media training workshop for print, online and broadcast journalists in Antananarivo, Madagascar. The workshop was attended by 23 journalists from various media houses in the capital of the Indian Ocean Island.
 
And at the beginning of August, PSAf facilitated a training workshop for journalists on climate change. the workshop was jointly organised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources (Climate Change Facilitation Unit) of the Government of the Republic of Zambia.
 
Addressing journalists at the two workshops, PSAf executive director Mr Parkie Mbozi emphasised the role of the media in influencing policy debate on climate change, and making sure that voices of the poor and marginalised are also heard and considered in policy making. PSAf has a number of initiatives under the Environment and Natural Resources Management (ENRM) programme to support media coverage of climate change.
 
In Madagascar, Association of Environmental Journalists (AJE) president Francis Rasoamaharo said the desire to report on climate change was very high among journalists, but they were being limited by lack of resources to travel to affected sites, limited sources.
 
“There are a lot of environmental and climate change issues here in Madagascar, but we are limited by a number of challenges. As journalists, we very much desire to drive the debate on climate change in Madagascar, but these challenges make it difficult,” said Rasoamaharo.
 
In Zambia, journalists from various national and community media houses also pledged their commitment to driving the climate change debate in the country. The journalists also made numerous recommendations on how scientists, policy makers and civil society organisations involved in climate change should collaborate to enhance exchange of information on climate change.
 
Officials from the CCFU and IUCN pledged their commitment to working with journalists, helping them access information sources. The journalists proposed the stablishment of a fellowship to support climate change reporting, structured in the same way as media fellowships currently being run by PSAf. Given the key role played by community media in Zambia, the journalists also called for the training of media at local (community, district and provincial) level.
 
The technical coordinator of the Climate Change Facilitation Unit, Professor Preim Jain and Climate Change regional Coordinator for IUCN Eastern and Southern Africa, Excellent Hachileka registered their institutions commitment to continue supporting media coverage of climate change.