Manado, North Sulawesi, May 13, 2009 (ANTARA) - A strong partnership
between science and the media is needed to overcome environmental
problems, including climate change, Robert Lee, a UNESCO Program
Specialist for Environment Sciences said.
Journalists and scientists should work closely together as the media
had great skill in telling interesting stories that could catch
people's attention, while scientists were good in collecting scientific
facts and data important to protect the environment, Lee said at the
OANA Workshop on "The Role of the media in preserving the global
environment", here on Wednesday .
Planet Earth was
experiencing disasters such as floods, droughts, sea level rise, air
pollution, wild fires, desertification, and ecosystem destruction, he
said.
Scientists
have sent alarms for decades about the climate change and global
warming as well as other environmental problems, but it seemed it did
get adequate attention from the public, Lee of the Jakarta-based UNESCO
regional office, said.
He
believed that the media play an active role in collecting, producing
and distributing news on the environment, which could possible change
the attitude of the society, like in saving energy and water in their
daily life.
Lee
also emphasized that the media should not only report on environment
and scientific information, but also should participate actively in
dialogs which lead to policy and decision makings.
"The
media should form strong communication with scientists," he told the
workshop's participants among others coming from Vietnam, China, Japan,
South Korea, Spain, Venezuela, Malaysia, Indonesia, Qatar, Brazil,
Suriname, Cuba, and Canada.
He
said UNESCO Jakarta Office would have a media and climate change
program to promote journalists' excellence in reporting climate change.
The
OANA workshop is being organized by OANA (Organization of Asia-Pacific
News Agencies), here May 13-15, coinciding with the implementation of
the World Ocean Conference (WOC) which is also being organized here, May
11-14.
The
Workshop is organized by the OANA Secretariat in ANTARA News Agency,
with the cooperation of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the
Communication and Informatics Ministry of Indonesia.
In
the last day of the workshop, the journalists will join a field visit
to Bunaken marine park, around 10 km of Manado, to see the rich marine
biodiversity of the protected marine park.
OANA, which was established in 1961 with the support of UNESCO, now has 40 member news agencies from 33 countries.
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(T. F001/A/HAJM/A/E002)
