A Commitment to Act Now: Broadcast Media and Climate Change

This 14-page brochure summarises the 7 sessions of an international conference held in Paris, France, from September 4-5 2009: Broadcast Media and Climate Change: A Public Service Remit. Organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the conference led international and regional broadcasting unions to vow to increase cooperation in order to give media exposure to climate change.

Specifically, as the brochure explains, the Conference brought together more than 250 representatives of national broadcasters from both developing and developed countries, scientific organisations, regional broadcasting associations and unions, and climate-related agencies. They explored current coverage of climate change issues in different regions of the world and the challenges being faced by broadcasters, in particular those from the developing countries. As a culmination of their discussions, participants adopted the "Paris Declaration: A Commitment for an Increased Public Awareness of Climate Change", which is printed in the early pages of the brochure.

The comments of conference participants, in reflecting on the Declaration, highlight the strategic value that communication and collaboration are thought to play in contributing to the mitigation of climate change. For instance, UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information Abdul Waheed Khan said, "I encourage and echo the call for bridges to be built between public service broadcasting, community media and commercial broadcast media. This integration will increase the collective effort to bolster the involvement of those who are most vulnerable to climate change." The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, also highlighted the importance of public awareness of the issue: "Broadcasters play a vital role by informing and educating the public about the realities of climate change and the costs of inaction. Armed with information, citizens are better equipped to push for meaningful and responsible follow-through from their elected representatives".

In addition to the Declaration text itself, the brochure describes the key purpose(s) of each of the 7 core Conference sessions, with quotations from Conference attendees included to illuminate the key points that emerged. For instance, Session 6 focused on making climate knowledge accessible. Participants discussed networking as a key tool to enhance the work of broadcasters. In this session, participants discussed their experiences in reporting on climate change and outlined possible modalities for sharing relevant contacts, knowledge, and rights-free content on climate change. On a related note, a section of the brochure titled "Promoting Content Exchange" describes UNESCO's work to establish partnerships to provide a range of quality audiovisual material and resources rights-free to national broadcasters from developing countries. As detailed here, these materials include:

• "The Climate Game and the Poor" (Dansk AV Produktion and UNESCO)
• "Earth : The Climate Wars" (BBC)
• "Here to Stay" (Ki productions, distributed by France Télévisions Distribution)
• A 30-minute selection of rushes on various aspects of climate change (BBC)
• A series of one-minute clips on climate change (Global Humanitarian Forum)

According to the brochure, "A number of broadcasting organizations have already started launching follow-up actions" based on the dialogue in the 7 sessions and the commitments as articulated in the Declaration.