Klima 101: A Climate Change Guidebook for Philippine Journalists

Abstract

Climate change is a complex issue for journalists to report on and for decision makers and the general public to grasp, despite the increasing scientific evidence of this phenomenon and the growing concern over environmental issues.

Klima 101: A Climate Change Guidebook for Philippine Journalists aims to help journalists and editors, including journalism teachers and trainers, to navigate and understand scientific issues. This book also aims to provide its readers guideposts to an informed and honest policy debate on climate change.

This guidebook represents a joint effort among scientists, communicators, and journalists at the CGIAR Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security Southeast Asia Program (CCAFS-SEA), the Philippine Network of Environmental Journalists (PNEJ) and the Philippine Agricultural Journalists (PAJ). This is the product of a series of media workshops that brought the country’s experts and journalists to discuss media coverage and communication of climate change science conducted in the past three years.

It should help journalists understand key concepts that will aid them on reporting on climate change and its impact on agriculture and food security, learn more about government policies to address climate change, and on how journalists can effectively communicate climate change and its related issues. This guidebook highlights the agriculture sector and the climatic impacts on food security as the Philippines’ economy depends heavily on agriculture.