Third Panafrican female journalists Climate forum closes in Casablanca

The 3rd edition of the Panafricaines forum on “Climate Emergency, the Role of the Media” has closed in Casablanca, Morocco, with a call on Africa to rise up to more actions rather than talks in addressing climate impacts on the continent.

Africa, was also asked to resort to south-south cooperation, as well as leveraging on the availability of the mass media to mobilise its people to resort to locally sustainable solutions to climate adaptation.

The forum, also known as the “African Women Journalists Forum, and attended by 300 female journalists in Africa, was on the theme: “Climate Emergency: African Media, Agents of Change”.

The two-day events was hosted by Les Panafricaines, a Moroccan based organisation, and the Moroccan Government in collaboration with 2M, a public multimedia company in Morocco, which initiated the Forum in 2017.

Ms Samira Sitail, a Member of the Standing Committee of Les Panafricaines, in a closing remark, congratulated the female journalists who had travelled from all 54 countries of Africa, to participate in the forum, and to get to understand climate issues to enable them to help in properly engaging the people on the phenomenon.

She commended the other collaborators, namely, 2m, a public Multimedia company in Morocco and the Kingdom of Morocco for enabling the journalists to have the opportunity to learn more about climate change and to use their medium to propagate messages that would help the citizenry to adapt to the phenomenon.

She said in the era of so many rumours and fake news, the duty of the journalists was quite essential and that the Panafrican forum was determined to be the force that would promote credible and well-researched news for the people of Africa and beyond.

“Today we are obliged as civil society to succeed were political organisations of governments have failed.

“We are different, and at the same time, and at the same time facing the same problems as women, having the same certificate as journalists, and thank God, the same energy and the same desire to see Africa, which is so dear to us, to decide for itself, and to decide by itself, on issues like climate change that we all are experiencing, without hiding it.

“Let stay united and remain stronger”, Ms Sitail stated.

The participating journalists which also included media personnel from Ghana expressed satisfaction about the various topics discussed at the forum that also included issues of Africa’s Energy Transition; the Challenges of rational management of water resources; and Sustainable agriculture: a green economy for Africa.

Other issues discussed were the Health impact of climate change; Sustainable development for African cities; Waste management; as well as Climate Change Adaptation-Media Agents of change.

The journalists committed to intensifying reportage on issues of climate change in their respective countries.