A greater media visibility of the challenges related to climate change, particularly in the Mediterranean area is the goal of COPEAM (Permanent Conference of the Mediterranean Audiovisual Operators) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), which have launched today in Amman (Jordan) an international workshop for radio and TV journalists on “Climate Challenges and Sustainable Development in the Mediterranean Region”.
The workshop, taking place at the Jordan Media Institute, was launched by H.E. Maria Hadjitheodosiou, Ambassador of the European Union to Jordan, who underlined that the European Union “is responding to climate change through ambitious policies within Europe and close cooperation with partners such as Jordan, within the EU Neighbourhood region. These efforts would not have been achieved without a strong role for Media, as the EU believes that advocacy and public awareness building through different Media routes are instrumental in developing broad understanding of Climate Change consequences and enhancing collective actions to overcome their impact.”
In the past seven years, the EU provided more than EUR 400 million euro in support of Water, Green Energy, and Solid Waste Management sectors, positioning the EU as a key partner for Jordan in fighting climate change.
During a three day period, major experts from the scientific and the information fields will enhance the skills and the knowledge of 20 journalists, coming from 14 radio and TV broadcasters of the Balkans, the South-Mediterranean and the Middle East, with a special focus on the United Nations’ international framework in view of the next COP25 in Madrid. A visit to environmentally-relevant sites in Jordan will also be organized, giving the participants the chance to analyse some case studies on the field.
“Jordan lies in a climate sensitive area that suffers from a net reduction in rainfall. A good example to tackle this is Wadi Al Arab water project. The European Union has financed this climate adaptation project to improve the resilience of communities in the northern governorates to extreme droughts and to overexploitation of the current fragile local groundwater sources. It will withdraw water in the Jordan Valley, treat it and pump it via the Wadi al Arab to supply the governorates of Irbid, Ajloun and Jerash.” Said Sander Van Kooten EIB’s representative in Jordan.
To this regard, COPEAM Secretary General Claudio Cappon has expressed the wish that “such partnership with the EIB – launched in 2015 – can improve the journalists’ reporting skills about these extremely relevant issues, and contribute to raise the general public’s awareness about environment and climate change in the region”.
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