When it comes to climate change journalism, keeping both sides in proper balance is difficult--but never impossible. That was a key outcome of the workshop ‘Reporting on Climate Change’, held on Monday 29 June at the Geographical Society in London as part of the 6th World Conference of Science Journalists.

When writing about the risks, the statistics, and the scientific studies about global warming, a couple of things are important, presenters at the workshop said. A good working knowledge of the phenomenon itself is indispensible. Writers should use plain, simple language that speaks to every reader. The link between individuals’ daily lives and climate change should be made clear.And finally, stories should be backed up by facts and numbers that can help convince decision makers to take action.

The workshop, which drew approximately fifty journalists from around the globe, began with an exposé about the causes and effects of climate change, a phenomenon that threatens the entire planet. One of the obstacles in convincing individuals that this problem affects them, too, is that there are still so many things scientists don’t know, said Chris Rapley, former director of the British Antarctic Survey. “People often want to hear something concrete. But they need to understand that scientists don’t have answers to all the questions. They don’t grasp that 0.01% can have bad repercussions,” Rapley said.

“The role of journalists,” he added, is not to scare people about climate change, but to make them aware of it, so that they can understand what it’s about and can become involved in fighting it.”

The communication of scientific information to the public should be a joined effort, the speakers said, since we are dealing with a threat to the entire world. Scientists from around the world need to join hands to communicate their message by way of journalists. Journalists, for their part, have to communicate that information in a way that convinces the public without scaring them; they also need to find ways to convince policy makers that the issue is of the utmost importance.

The speakers drove home the message that all countries need to adopt policies that help counter climate change—that’s why the next United Nations conference on the topic, to be held in Copenhagen in December, is so extremely important. “All countries have to develop national action plans. They need to adopt new technologies to put an end to ecosystem degradation and to confront climate change,” said Saleemul Huq, a senior fellow at the Institute for International Environment and Development, an independent research agency in the United Kingdom.  “Every country must understand that Copenhagen won’t be the end of all problems,” he explained. “There are commitments from every country. The rich countries must live up to their commitment to diminish carbon dioxide emissions. Developing countries must work to show that money spent on remediating the damage from climate change, made available by the rich countries, is spent in credible and rational ways.”

The situation is serious and it requires hard work from all the parties involved—but perhaps most of all, from science communicators.

This session was produced by James Fahn and Mike Shanahan, and sponsored by UNESCO/UK UNESCO.

Racha Hanafi
English translation by Martin Enserink