Environmental reporting course opens in Berlin

Daily Graphic Pg. 2, Tuesday, July 08,08

Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho, Berlin, Germany

A six-week training course on environmental reporting for fifteen journalists from seven developing countries has opened at Berlin in Germany.
The participants are drawn from Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, India, Bangladesh, Jordon and Indonnesia.
The trainning programme is being organised by the International Institute of Journalism (IIJ) in conjunction with The Capacity Building Institute (InWent), Germany and it is aimed at building the capacities of the journalists on current environmental happenings across the globe.
The training will cover areas such as waste management, global warming, climate change, nuclear energy, ecology, water and sanitation, renewable energies, rural electrification, biodiversity, land degradation and desertification.
The journalists will be lectured by seasoned lecturers on the environment such as Mr Martin Meister, a Managing Editor of a science magazine in Germany, Mr Peter Plappert, a freelance consultant and trainer on environmental issues, Mr Pierre portas, a biologist by training, Mr Ludwig Pulschen, an agricultural engineer, Mr Henner Weithoner, an on-line publisher and editor-in-chief of a renewable energy journal and Ms Annedore Smith, a journalist with the Associated Press.
The participants will also go on field trips across Germany to visit some solar company’s and learn at first hand some of their success stories on environmental conversation such as to the world’s largest solar electric systems in Arnstein-Germany, visit the international Solar Energy Society and Germany’s biggest geothermal projects in Berlin.
The Head of IIJ, Ms Astrid Kohl who oepned the course said IIJ was aimed at building the capacities of mid-carrier journalists on topical issues affecting the globe such as on the environment, business and political reporting.
She said the institute as a policy organises about 40 to 45 courses every year to cover topical issues with special focus on West and South Africa, India and South East Asia.