Climate and Cryosphere Change Reporting workshops for Journalists from Seven Provinces in Nepal

Building the capacity of journalists to report on scientific research and findings related to climate change is therefore essential to further the objectives of open science, an approach of making science more visible, collaborative, and connected to societal needs.

Nepal is one of the most vulnerable countries to the impacts of climate change and climate-induced disasters. Rapid changes to the cryosphere have exacerbated the vulnerabilities of communities living both in the mountains as well as downstream areas. Worse yet, poor and marginalized communities are disproportionately affected by its impacts on ecosystem services, economy and environment.

While the impacts of climate and cryosphere changes have become a major area of scientific inquiry in recent years, their dissemination to the public has been sporadic and abstract. The pervasiveness of misinformation and disinformation when communicating about such issues contributes to climate alarmism and fosters denying climate action. Building the capacity of journalists to report on scientific research and findings related to climate change is therefore essential to further the objectives of open science, an approach of making science more visible, collaborative and connected to societal needs.

As an intersectoral initiative, the Science and the Communication and Information units, along with the Nepal Forum of Science Journalists (NFSJ) organized two workshops on community-focused and evidence-based climate reporting for journalists from all seven provinces of Nepal. The first workshop was held in Dhulikhel on 14 and 15 October 2022 and included fifteen journalists as participants. The workshop comprised of interactive sessions on1) climate change, 2) misinformation, disinformation and fact-checking in science and environment reporting, 3) identifying climate and environmental issues, and 4) climate change challenges and policies in Nepal, as well as a field visit to Namobuddha municipality. The journalists were mentored in writing stories after the workshop, and as a result, a story each relating to climate change was produced from every province.

One of the participating journalists, Madhuri Mahato from Madhesh Pradesh stated that a combination of knowledge of theoretical and practical aspects of climate reporting in the workshop helped her in expanding her understanding of climate change. She further remarked that she learned about “cross-checking scientific facts, and strategies of reaching out to global climate experts for information” from the workshop.

The Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region is highly sensitive to any changes in the climate. An HKH Assessment Report published by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in 2019 projects a loss of one-third of the glacier volume by the end of the century even if global temperature rise is limited to the 1.5°C Paris Agreement target. In view of this, together with ICIMOD, a second workshop on understanding the impacts of cryosphere changes on livelihoods was organized on 30 November 2022.

Experts presented on the linkage between the cryosphere and climate change, and group work was organized where participants presented stories relating to cryosphere change from different provinces in Nepal.

Both the workshops were well appreciated by journalists, government authorities and experts alike.

‘Any changes in the cryosphere can have disastrous effects on the settlements downstream. We all remember last year’s Melamchi flood disaster. In order to reduce disaster impact on the Nepali public, on behalf of the ministry, I urge all parties to work on intervention measures to safeguard our future.’

Dr Pramila Bajracharya, the Science secretary at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology