As interest in the phenomenon of climate change that threatens the Earth increases, the media has had to search for better ways in which it can attract non-specialized audiences, and increase their awareness of the dangers that threaten it, and the efforts that they can make to try to combat it.
In July 2021, the Climate School Initiative was launched to become, within a short period, one of the most important non-profit media projects seeking to support journalists working in the field of the environment in the Arab world.
"Green in Arabic" interviewed journalist “Rahma Diaa”, who decided to establish the initiative after many years of working in the field of environmental journalism.
Lack of supportive links
“Diaa” says about the idea of launching the initiative: “I noticed the absence of networking or links that support journalists working in the field of climate change at the regional level, despite their presence in different parts of the world. It plays an important role in providing support, guidance, and sharing opportunities in order to enable journalists to cover this issue”. She then added that interest in Climate journalism three years ago did not have the momentum we see now.
The initiative aims to train journalists working in the field of environment and climate change who wish to join the field for the first time, and it works to mix different templates in the training it provides, so that beneficiaries can provide different forms of climate journalism; Audio, print and visual, to reach different segments of the audience.
There is another aspect that the initiative is working on. It provides training manuals in Arabic for journalists, and translating materials from English to Arabic.
“Diaa” pointed out that the initiative received enthusiasm from journalists in different Arab countries, in addition to journalists who were enthusiastic about sharing their experiences on a voluntary basis, in addition to the interest of many institutions in partnering with the initiative, whether at the local or regional level.
One of the initiative’s achievements is joining the International Journalists Network’s Mentoring Center program for emerging media initiatives, which is a 10-month program that contributed to its development and taking further steps, according to “Diaa”.
Over the course of nearly 3 years, the number of beneficiaries of the free sessions provided by the “Climate School”, in cooperation with a large number of experts, reached two thousand journalists belonging to more than 20 different countries, in addition to the training sessions organized by the initiative in a number of universities.
“Diaa” pointed out that bringing together journalists from different countries was one of the goals of the Climate School in order to achieve mutual support, networking regarding knowledge, sourcing of information, and enriching discussions.
Arab challenges
There is a challenge pointed out by the Initiative Foundation, which is that working on the climate change file requires familiarity with the scientific aspects related to the phenomenon, its various effects, and reading research papers to discuss with scientists the solutions they offer, and then simplify and present them in an attractive narrative the public interact with, without feeling that it is an elitist topic.
The “Climate School” worked to confront these challenges in innovative ways. The most recent of which was holding a training session for journalists that relied entirely on the use of a set of games designed by “Diaa” to communicate information related to climate journalism in an interactive manner. Each game consists of a set of questions that the attendees answered.
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In her speech, she pointed out to the need to increase the number of platforms specialized in content related to climate change to provide more opportunities for journalists in the field, and that coverage should not be limited to the environment sections in newspapers, but rather feed into all other sections, because it is a phenomenon that cuts across all fields.
This matter was touched upon by the young journalist during her career. She pointed out that the different types of content she worked on benefited her when she began working in the field of environment and climate change. This enhanced her ability to produce diverse and human content that includes attractive visual elements, which are skills she is working to transfer to other journalists through the initiative.
“Diaa's” start in the world of environmental investigative reporting began with the production of the investigative report "Black Inhale" in 2018, which included the dangers of using coal in industry. And, the Egyptian journalist describes it as "the closest report to my heart."
Same year “Diaa” won first place in the Media Club Awards for Journalistic Excellence, which is one of the projects affiliated with the Danish-Egyptian Dialogue Initiative “DIDI”, with her investigative report whose work required travel to several Egyptian governorates and contained a number of human stories.
Climate change and women
The Egyptian journalist’s work on content related to women issues for a long time led her to focus on gender-related angles. She said: “I am deeply moved by the stories of women, both those affected by climate change and those who are able to make a difference... I am always amazed by their ability to implement pioneering initiatives and innovative and different ideas.”
One of the stories produced by “Diaa” in 2022, and published by the “Arab Light” website, during which she talked about the contribution of climate change to girls dropping out of education.
In it, she conveyed the story of “Dina,” who dropped out of school before completing her tenth year, after her family migrated from their village to one of the urban areas in the Egyptian Giza Governorate as a result of desertification and drought that ravaged their agricultural land.
