Media to seek knowledge on climate change

Judith Akolo in Kenya Broadcasting Corporation: Climate change adaptation is key to ensuring that the African continent saves itself from the serious effects arising from the distortion in climatic patterns. Prof Charles Basalirwa of Makerere Universities department of Geography however says, the current flurry of organisations that have sprung up to try and address the dangers of climate change are causing more confusion than helping the situation.

Basalirwa who spoke at media meeting on Climate Change at the Hotel Africana in Kampala accused media organisations and media colleges of jumping onto the bandwagon without first of all understanding the delicate issues on the subject.

"Let the media first of all understand what climate change is, then try to apply it to the current situation and interrogate the stories before putting them into the public arena," said Prof Basalirwa who is also the focal point of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change - IPCC.

…Prof Basalirwa while agreeing that the effects of climate change have already began to affect the normal lives of the public, the Don said it was not in the benefit of the public that such a delicate matter should be addressed by pseudo-professionals in matters of climate, who are in fact seeking funding from development partners to set up many organisations that seem to have now lost direction on what to do about climate change….

Plenary Hall stage of Poznan Climate Conference (COP 14 / MOP 4) before its opening in December, 2008. Shot by Cien, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License