CEJ confers awards to promote journalistic expertise in climate change reporting

KARACHI: The Centre for Excellence in Journalism at the Institute of Business Administration (CEJ-IBA) conferred awards upon four journalists for their outstanding contributions to the field of climate reporting at the ‘Climate Reporting Awards’, held on March 27. This measure is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

The Awards, held for the first time, were organized to highlight and promote journalistic expertise in the areas of environment and climate change after 24 journalists across the country attended five-day Green Media Initiative boot camps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and South Punjab.

Dr. Rüdiger Lotz, Consul General, Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany, gave welcome remarks at the event. He stated, “To the journalists we honor today, my heartfelt congratulations and deepest gratitude… I encourage you to continue your invaluable contributions to the climate change discourse, knowing your voices enable climate action. Your stories haven’t just informed the public, they’ve demonstrably made a difference.”

The awards were conferred to four journalists – two from each province – for news stories written or produced after the successful completion of the Swat boot camp in November and the Rahim Yar Khan boot camp in December.

The winners and runners-up are as follows:

Rahim Yar Khan

Winner: Irfan Ulhaq, Correspondent, Dawn Media Group

Story title: Salinity control plan reclaims 1.3 acres farm land

Runner-up: Mahjabeen Abid, Producer/ Anchor, PTV National Multan

Story title: Air pollution: A big reason of complications during pregnancy

 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Winner: Arif Ahmad, Reporter, Zama Swat

Story title: An entire village in Swat flooded due to climate change

Runner-up: Laiba Hussan, Reporter, Aaj News

Story title: Solar energy’s unintended impact: Peshawar’s silent drought crisis

Winners and runners-up were selected by two senior journalists from a total of 20 entries from the alumni of Green Media Initiative boot camps. The jury included Shahzeb Jillani, Senior Journalist and Host of Zara Hut Kay at Dawn News and Afia Salam, Freelance Journalist.

During the occasion, a resource book titled ‘Pakistan: On the Frontline of Climate Change’ authored by Rina Saeed Khan and edited by Farahnaz Zahidi was launched. The book provides journalists with an overview of the impact, governance and legal structures, and tips to improve climate change journalism in an easy-to-understand format.

Amber Rahim Shamsi, Director CEJ, highlighted the Centre’s efforts for providing opportunities to journalists to learn climate reporting on ground: “CEJ-IBA has been at the forefront of capacity-building for stimulating climate journalism”.

“We are honored to partner with the like-minded GIZ, which shares our vision for high quality and high impact reporting,” she said.

In his keynote speech, Ahmad Shabbar, Founder and CEO, GarbageCan, emphasized the “corrective mechanism” of nature. “If something in Nature goes wrong, it corrects itself. I am of the firm belief that you and I are a part of that corrective mechanism. We have been made to realize that we need nature or a certain climate to survive. And there is something very wrong going on. Now it is for us to decide how we want to live. And for the media to tell it as it is so that people can decide for themselves.”

Ahmad Shabbar, Founder and CEO, GarbageCan; and Amber Rahim Shamsi, Director, CEJ, highlighting the importance of climate change discourse through reporting. (2/3 ) pic.twitter.com/ZjBzGCUn1A

— CEJ (@CEJatIBA) March 28, 2024

About CEJ-IBA

The Centre for Excellence in Journalism at the Institute of Business Administration (CEJ-IBA) stands as the nation’s most prestigious journalism training facility that has been instrumental in elevating the standards of journalism in Pakistan.

About GIZ

The German Development Cooperation (BMZ) has been supporting Pakistani counterparts for over 70 years. We work together with our partners in support of their socio-economic reform agenda aimed at reducing poverty, promoting economic growth, and creating jobs. Our work contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and is implemented in line with the Pakistan-German cooperation agreements.

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH works on behalf of the German Government mainly in the following priority areas: Peaceful and Inclusive Society, Sustainable Economic Development, Training and Employment, and Climate and Energy.