Workshop participants visit a wind power plant  40 miles north of Baku. Photo: Gulnara Akhundova, IMS

Climate change science and windmills was on the agenda, as 15 journalists came together for a climate change workshop in Baku in the lead-up to the UN Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen in December

 By Gulnara Akhundova, IMS

Climate change is now on the agenda of local government, media, experts and civil society in Azerbaijan thanks to the workshop organised by International Media Support, the OSCE Office in Baku and the Azerbaijan Media Center in November 2009

Just a few weeks before the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP 15), the workshop has called for the immediate attention of  the local community on this issue. Titled “The Media workshop on Climate Change” and tailored to journalists’ needs, the five day event brought together not only media representatives but also experts from across different sectors.

Raising the profile of climate change in Azerbaijan

- The media in Azerbaijan  pay very little attention to climate change said Gulmali Suleymanov, Director of the Climate Change Center in the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources.

- Therefore there is an undeniable need for this type of media workshop.  I am happy to equip journalists with the necessary information needed for them to raise public awareness on this important issue, he noted.

The issue of climate change is a relatively new topic in Azerbaijani media circles and the workshop partly served as an eye-opener of the issues at stake if climate change is not tackled.

During the workshop, journalists were able to pose tough questions to the officials from ministries of Ecology and Natural Resources, Energy and Industry, Emergency Situations, Health as well as to experts from the huge energy companies such as State Oil Company and AzerEnerji.

- The Azerbaijan Media Center is pleased to be able to help Azerbaijani reporters understand a very difficult, but vital topic, so they in turn can report back to our communities, said Director Elshad Farzaliyev.

COP 15

The main topics of the workshop were the science of climate change, the history and present status of UN climate change negotiations and issues related to the central building blocks of the Copenhagen agreement which will follow the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol.

The workshop was facilitated by Danish climate change reporter Jan Dahlmann who will be actively involved in the UN Climate Change Summit known as COP 15 from 7 – 15 December in Copenhagen.  In addition to his 20 years of experience in covering environment and climate issues for various Danish media, Jan Dahlmann could provide participants with the latest updates on the preparations for COP 15.

-  I encouraged the participants of the workshop to report on the COP15 negotiations, Jan Dahlmann said.

Encouraging climate change journalism

As part of the workshop, participants visited a wind power plant consisting of two 850 MW wind turbines 40 miles north of Baku. This was a very good experience for them as most of the participants have seen the wind turbines for the first time in their life.

- The participants have learnt a lot during their week here at Media Center. This is just the start. We’re really hoping that from this we’ll see more climate change stories in our media, so the general public can understand more about this important issue, Farzaliyev said at the end of the workshop.

- I believe the workshop has raised some good questions in the minds of the participants. My hope is that they will aim higher now in their professional aspirations as journalists as they pursue climate change stories, Jan Dahlmann concluded.

Over 30 reporters and environmental professionals applied for the Climate Change Media workshop for which the Azerbaijan Media Center selected 15 participants. Now that the training is finished participants have returned to their newsrooms refreshed and keen to start raising the profile of climate change in their local communities.