3-day workshop on climate change reporting commences in Srinagar

A three-day workshop on the sensitization of media persons in the area of climate change and to engage them on climate change adaptation commenced here today.

The workshop themed ‘climate change reporting in theHimalayas’ is being jointly organized by the Department of Science andTechnology (DST), Centre for Media Studies (CMS) and Indian Himalayas ClimateAdaptation Programme (IHCAP) of Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation(SDC). Ten such workshops have already been conducted in various States inIndia.

   

The experts informed that the Indian Himalayan Region is oneof the most vulnerable mountain systems in the world. “Jammu and Kashmir is thethird most vulnerable state to climate change in India”, the experts informed.They added, if effective measures are taken in time, it may be possible toprevent further degradation of the ecosystem.

The inaugural session of the workshop was attended byDirector, Department of Ecology Environment and Remote Sensing, B. SiddharthaKumar; Director, Indian Meteorological Department, Srinagar, Sonam Lotus; andresource persons from government institutions and NGOs.

Besides, dozens of journalists from various parts of Jammuand Kashmir, working with local, national and international media and theresearchers from Kashmir University attended the workshop.

In his inaugural address, B. Siddhartha Kumar spoke on thecauses leading to global warming. He said that environmental degradationthrough deforestation and other practices are the main cause of global warming.

He hoped that these workshops will enhance the capacity ofenvironmental journalists and help them to highlight climate change adaptationissues in local and regional context.  Onthe occasion, media manual for journalists ‘Himalayas, Climate change and themedia’ was also released.

In the first technical session, Sonam Lotus spoke on climatechange – trends, adaptation and mitigation strategies with special emphasis onJ&K.

While speaking on the topic, Lotus urged the journalists tostop attributing every normal environmental process to climate change. “Manytimes journalists attribute the heavy rain or thunder to climate change, butthese things have been happening from the early times and have no linkage toclimate change. Sometimes there may be some connection, but not always,” hesaid.

Coordinator/ Scientist Climate Change Cell Department ofEcology Environment and Remote Sensing, Majid Farooq gave the overview of theState Action Plan on Climate change and vulnerability profiles of the state.

Managing Editor, India Science Wire, Dinesh C Sharma gavethe overview of ‘Media and climate change’ and also shared his experience onenvironment reporting with a special focus on climate change.

Later, a question-answer session was also held whereinvarious participants put forward their questions which were answered by theexperts and resource persons.

In the second technical session, resource persons includingFounder and Advisor SECMOL, Sonam Wangchuk; Assistant Professor, Department ofEarth Sciences, University of Kashmir, Dr Irfan Rashid; Dr Anurag Saxena fromICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute, regional Research Station, Leh;Assistant Professor and Head, Division of Wildlife Sciences, SKUAST, DrKhursheed Ahmad shed light on the theme.

Presentations and short films for the better understandingof the climate change in Himalayas were also displayed.

During the three-day workshop, experts from environment,agriculture, wildlife and earth sciences will be speaking on science and policyrelated to climate change and adaptation initiatives in context of Jammu &Kashmir.

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