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ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISTS IN CONGO BASIN CHALLENGED ON INVESTIGATIVE, DATA JOURNALISM TO HALT DEGRADATION

Participants at the Rainforest Journalism Fund and Journalists Environmental Association of Tanzania workshop

BY RICHARD DRASIMAKU

ARUA: THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 2023

Dr Severin Kalonga, the project lead for Forest Landscape Restoration in Africa initiative of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) has emphasized the role of environmental journalists to help halt and reverse the negative trend of degradation and biodiversity loss in the Congo basin.

He said through proper investigations and use of data, journalists’ interventions can lead to desired change.

Dr Kalonga was addressing journalists brought together from across the Great lakes region and the Congo basin during a workshop at Seashell Millennium hotel in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The Rainforest Journalism Fund (RJF) of the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting jointly organized the event with the Journalists’ Environmental Association of Tanzania (JET).

Dr Kalonga’s presentation that heavily dwelt on the latest Living Planet Index Report shed light on the deteriorating situation of the Congo Basin ecosystem since 1970.

He pointed out a number of human activities including land conversion for agriculture, illegal logging, bush burning, dams, roads and railway construction and mining among others as key drivers of forest destruction in Congo basin and neighbouring countries.

At least eight countries in the region- Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Gabon plus Thailand in East Asia – were represented.

Dr Kalonga told journalists to bring to public domain, initiatives such as those aimed at helping countries to develop strategies to address the threat posed by foreign invasive species.

“Inclusive conservation is about engaging everyone- government, civil society and non-state actors like certification agencies,” he explained.

Dr Kalonga reasserted WWF’s ambitious plan to have 13.5 million hectares under restoration by 2027 for sustainable livelihoods and conservation.

A successful implementation of this plan would see 1.25m hectares in Uganda, 2.5 million hectares in Kenya, 2.6 million hectares in Tanzania, 2 million hectares in Madagascar, 3 million hectares in Cameroon, 800,000 hectares in Democratic Republic of Congo, 500,000 hectares in Zambia, 500,000 hectares in Zimbabwe and 250,000 hectares in Mozambique restored.

Dr Kalonga promised to link journalists with the project focal point persons in the respective countries in order to keep track of the implementation of the initiative.

“Speak up about the importance of restoring and protecting nature. Remember the people you influence can make a difference,” he urged journalists.

He was flanked by Augustine Kasambule, the RJF regional manager for Africa who guided journalists on how to use satellite imagery and data, emphasizing that the duo is more reliable than text only scripts and lend more credibility to news reports.

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