Kathmandu, May 3: Various stakeholders have urged the media fraternity to meticulously report critical planetary issues concerning climate change, loss of biodiversity and air pollution.
The speakers said this at a multi-stakeholder interaction entitled ‘Press for the Planet: Journalism in the Face of the Environmental Crisis’, organized by the Ministry of Forests and Environment and International Press Institute (IPI) Nepal Chapter on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day in the capital on Friday.
Delivering a presentation, Chief of the REDD Implementation Centre under the MoFE, Naba Raj Pudasaini asked media and civil society organizations (CSOs) to bring into light the issues of forest conservation, watershed management, and plastic use prevention for a healthy planet.
“Forest fire has been the main cause behind the loss of biodiversity, air pollution, and climate change so it needs careful planning and interventions in cahoots with the community people to deal with the trigger”, he said, highlighting a robust and collaborative coping strategy to mitigate the triple planetary crises.
Watershed management which is the prime priority for keeping water recharged and protecting species has been brazenly ignored in Nepal, he said, asking questions as to how the hydropower projects would go sustainable without protecting water recharge spaces.
He further shared that Nepal has entered into a carbon trade but access to carbon finance has become invariably tough due to procedural hassles, capacity deficit and time-taking process. “Presumably it takes protracted 6-7 years to complete a process to access carbon finance. The global community needs to make carbon trade deal simple and non-technical”.
Also speaking on the occasion, Nagarik newspaper editor Gunaraj Luitel highlighted the watchdog role of media to debunk critical issues of the environment and planet.
Governance and federalism expert Ramesh Adhikari called for media and CSOs to track the mobilization of corporate social responsibility (CSR) allocation by the private sector. “The media should unveil the stories whether or not these resources are being spent for the protection of the environment as a public good”.
Environmental journalists, Anjali Subedi and Jagadiswor Pandey called for the need of establishing a research center for providing updated data and information for credible reporting on climate change issues.
IPI Nepal Chapter general-secretary Siromani Dhungana shared that such collaborative dialogue will bring together change-makers to deal with the issues related to climate change and the environment.
The event was participated in by policy-makers, journalists, representatives from CSOs, development partners and activists.
