BUCHANAN, January 21 (LINA) - Press Union of Liberia (PUL) president K. Abdullai Kamara has welcomed the environmental reporting training for Liberian journalists, calling it “a significant initiative poised to help society save itself from the devastation of climate change.”
Speaking Wednesday at the opening of the training organized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Buchanan, Kamara lauded the training as “a useful activity” that will prepare journalists to professionally report on the environment.
“Journalists are in the vanguard of informing and educating the public, and if they should do so in a professional way, they themselves must be adequately trained to understand the issues,” a PUL release quoted Kamara as saying.
He said the PUL was pleased to partner with the EPA for the training, especially because specialized training is a pillar under the PUL strategic plan (2014-2016).
Kamara said even before the training, journalists had established themselves into groups such as WASH Journalist Network, Liberian Environmental Media Group (LEMAG), and the Journalists for the Protection of Nature, among others.
Delivering the keynote address as proxy of Information Minister Lewis Brown, the Director-General of the Liberia News Agency (LINA), J. Nagbe Sloh, underscored the devastating effects of climate change and called for serious efforts to deal with environmental challenges in Liberia.
He was unhappy with companies and concessions whose operations create environmental pollution, and challenged journalists to investigate and expose environmental abuses by these companies.
“Economic prosperity must not be at the detriment of our people,” Sloh warned, adding: “The lives of our people are important and they must count first…”
Mr. Benjamin S. Karmorh, EPA Coordinator of Climate Change Enabling Activities, said the training will put journalists in the best position to not only adequately report environmental issues but to also do so very professionally.
LINA