International authorities and representatives of the organising institutions highlighted the work of the press and communicators as key actors in influencing climate action.
San José, Costa Rica, 11 September 2021. The Ibero-American Forum on Communication and Climate Change, organised by the EUROCLIMA+ programme and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) through its ARAUCLIMA programme, was successfully held on 09 and 10 September.
This event was held virtually and was attended by more than 300 professionals from Latin America and Spain, who exchanged experiences and best practices related to the environment and climate change. The activity was also open to the public on the EUROCLIMA+ Programme's digital platforms, thus extending the reach of the event to more than 700 people.
During these sessions, recognised leaders in the field of climate change participated.
The first session was attended by Andrea Meza, Minister of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica and Teresa Ribera, Spanish Minister for the Ecological Transition, while on the second day, Carolina Schmidt, Minister of Environment of Chile and President of COP25 and Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, joined the high-level panel.
Minister Meza stressed Costa Rica's commitment to the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) "we are at a time of great urgency for climate action and the transformations we need to make in our societies and our economy", said the Minister, who was seconded by Minister Teresa Ribera, who added that "changes are always perceived differently and vulnerability affects countries and economies differently, but the focus of our decisions must always be people”.
During the second day's discussion, Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, emphasised the need to arrive at COP26 with three premises: the commitment that the promises made by developed countries will be fulfilled; to lay the foundations for the full implementation of the Paris agreement; and to increase ambition, not only in mitigation but also in adaptation and financing. For the Secretary, with these three clear points "we will achieve credibility and solid agreements".
In addition, during their interventions, the panellists responded to concerns raised by the media on issues such as climate construction and ambition, as well as on issues of form related to how to better communicate the situations present in the environmental and ecological crisis.
The Minister and COP25 President, Carolina Schmidt highlighted the role of the media for climate action and called on those present to continue to raise their voices and open spaces for reporting on the climate situation; "we are in a moment of great urgency for climate action and journalists are essential in keeping citizens well informed and facilitating access to information on climate policies", said Minister Schmidt.
Tools for communicating climate action
As part of the forum, on both days participants were able to access workshop-style conferences and exchange experiences on topics related to the exercise of their communication work where it was possible to learn more about social platforms, audiovisual production, photojournalism and content generation in new formats such as podcasts, thus contributing to communicating climate change in an innovative and effective way with diverse audiences.
As a result of this exercise, a digital network of Latin American communicators was created to exchange information and current content of the work that each one carries out in their countries. In addition, proposals for joint work and strategic alliances were put forward, as well as the generation of a bank of images and documentary content on climate change with a regional focus to support the work carried out by communicators.
This forum is one more event in the inter-institutional effort undertaken by EUROCLIMA+ and AECID to promote climate action. As a result of this meeting, work is underway to systematise the presentations, generate a catalogue of experts on climate issues and plan future meetings to strengthen the capacities of the media and open up more and more information spaces to inform and influence citizens for the benefit of the environment.
Check out the complete sessions of the Ibero-American Forum for Communication and Climate Change at the following links:
| Thursday, 9 September 2021 | Friday 10 September 2021 | |
About EUROCLIMA+
The implementation of EUROCLIMA+, funded by the European Union, and co-financed by the German federal government through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the governments of France and Spain through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Union and Cooperation, is carried out according to the "Spirit of Team Europe" under the synergistic work of seven agencies: the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the French Development Agency (AFD), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), Expertise France (EF), the International and Ibero-America Foundation for Administration and Public Policy (FIIAPP), and the UN Environment Programme.