By Lizzy Carr
The Bauchi State Project Coordinator of A World Bank Assisted Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) Dr Ibrahim Kabir has stated that the level of destruction on the environment is so severe with negative consequences on both the society and the people.
He was speaking on Friday in Bauchi when members of the Journalists for Public Health and Development Initiative (J4PD) visited ACReSAL Project Implementation Unit.
Dr. Kabir said people have continued to distort the environment through daily activities.
“The media is a major link to the community with key messages on how to protect the environment which is why ACReSAL is happy to partner with your organization,” he said.
He added that for the media to effectively cover and report on climate change they must be properly equipped with basic knowledge on what it is all about.
“The Journalists should be able to have basic knowledge on climate change, greenhouse emissions, ozone layer depletion, and global warming for effective reporting and ACReSAL is ready to build your capacity,”
The Project Coordinator also said that the collaboration with J4PD is in line with the project’s sustainability plan and will also add value to the overall goal of ACReSAL.
He informed J4PD members that he is also looking at the prospects of selling the idea of floating a course on Environmental Journalism to some Tertiary Institutions to expose Journalists to the nitty gritty of environmental reporting.
“ACReSAL is introducing greenhouse farming for women in three local government areas of the state as an effort to mitigate the effect of climate change,” he added.
Earlier in her remarks, the Coordinator of J4PD Elizabeth Kah said they were in the project office to commend the management and staff of PIU for giant strides in implementation of the ACReSAL project and also explore areas of collaboration with J4PD.
“You will agree with me that, though climatic issues are not new since the beginning of this millennium, issues surrounding them have been grossly underreported by the Media in this part of the world. The reason is very simple, no attempt has been made to equip the Journalists with techniques to report the issues. We, therefore, feel that we can start from there,” she said.
According to her, ACReSAL is a very good concept having seen the modest achievement recorded within one year of its introduction in Bauchi.
She stated that the recent visit of the Task Team Lead and the National Coordinator in the company of the World Bank and other stakeholders to Bauchi state was a demonstration of the feat so far achieved.
“With the full involvement of the Media in the state, the Project will be more successful and the Bauchi project unit and implementation will be second to none in the 19 Northern states and FCT that are implementing the project,” she said.
Kah said J4PD wants to partner with ACReSAL to create awareness on what communities need to do to help reduce the effect of climate change on the environment.
“The effect of climate change has continued to affect communities either through a wind storm, erosion, and flooding, we need to do our part and that’s why we are here to look at areas of collaboration,” she stated.
She also expressed the resolve of J4PD to partner with the ACReSAL project in the areas of sensitization, awareness creation, interface between beneficiary communities and, government agencies and generally giving visibility to all the activities of the project that needs showcasing.
The highlights of the visits were an interactive session granted by the project coordinator, where members of J4PD seek for some clarification, comments, and questions and answers.
