Garowe, Puntland Decemeber 01: MAP in partnership with the Free Press Unlimited hold a 2-day forum on climate change featuring participation from environmental civil society groups and members of the mainstream media, amid heightened concerns by local and international groups highlighting that climate change impacts from droughts and floods pose the most severe hazards to the country.
20 Participants invited for the 2-day forum were mostly drawn from those who participated at the FESOJ held training, thus there gained knowledge was put in practice to give direction on how to better coordinate the public communication with regards on climate change.
There’s never been a better time for the media and environmental civil society organizations to work together to educate and increase public awareness about climate change and violence in Somalia, we want to consolidate the knowledge picked up in the last training and further see how we could better cooperate in addressing the climate change issues – Said Mohamed Dahir, Chairperson MAP
The far-reaching consequences of climate change, causing hunger among other related problems, as well as destructive floods, persistent droughts, and scorching heatwaves were among the key areas discussed by the participants.
The event higlighted the need to channel communication through the mainstream media inorder to better educate the Somali public on the key issues regarding climate change and improve the communication materials to better inform the public.
Recurrent droughts and frequent flooding brought on by climate change cause failing harvests, livestock losses, and the country’s ongoing food insecurity in Somalia. Climate disasters increase the scarcity of food and water, the need for humanitarian aid, the loss of traditional livelihoods, and the threat to Somalia’s socioeconomic development.
End
