The Delta Commissioner for
Environment, Chief Frank Omare, has charged the Nigerian media on the need for
early and grass-roots reportage of environmental challenges across the country.

Omare gave the charge recently
at a one-day capacity building workshop for media practitioners organised by
the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the Delta
Government.

He said that early and
grass-roots report of environmental challenges would inform relevant government
agencies, as well as enable such agencies take appropriate intervention
measures.

He said that environmental
challenges such as climate change, flooding, soil erosion, coastal erosion,
indiscriminate poaching for games, forest depletion, oil spill, pollution,
contamination and solid waste were increasingly and globally becoming
worrisome.

The commissioner, who was
represented by the acting Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Khalil Okoro,
therefore, said that environmental information gathering and dissemination were
very vital to sustainable national development.

He also said that the present
administration in the state was very keen in addressing the various environment
challenges across the state, but added that this could only be achieved through
partnership with the media.

Delivering a paper entitled
“Environmental challenges in Delta and the media’’, Prof. Valerie Nnodu, of the
Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, urged the
media to be part of early signal of environmental emergencies.

Nnodu said that environmental
problems and the challenges emanating from them were multifaceted, adding that
any successful remedial action required a multifaceted approach.

She said that typhoon, super
storm, Sandy and flood were not accidents but environmental issues that had to
be tackled.

“There is no doubt, the
climate is changing and we have to tackle them,” she said.

She, therefore, advocated for
media personnel to be exposed to frequent training, since environmental issues
and challenges were dynamic.

The resource person also said
that environmental advocacy should be introduced in tackling some of the
predisposing conditions like flooding, soil erosion and coastal flooding.

Also speaking, Mr Goodluck
Enaini of NTA, said that representative of media should form part of national
disaster preparedness committees alongside government officials and civil
society leaders.

Enaini said that strong
working relationship between the media and disaster relief organisations, with
regular interaction between them, would help everyone understand each other’s
roles and needs.

He said that such interaction
before disasters was the groundwork for an effective working relationship in
its aftermath.

He, therefore, urged the media
to intensify their efforts at public enlightenment by presenting environmental
information in local languages to remove the language barrier.

In the same vein, Mr Eric
James, Former General Manager, Delta Broadcasting Service, Warri in Delta, said
that media must begin to design specific programmes solely devoted to
environmental issues.

James said that selected
journalists from each media organisation should be given specialised training
in environmental reporting to be able to exhibit high level of professionalism.

He said that the absence of
sponsorship had contributed to the inability of the media to create the desired
programmes on environment.