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As Africa’s environmental crisis grows, the messenger is routinely targeted, and the editorial space for covering these issues shrinks. IPI spoke with climate and environmental media experts on why we need to strengthen climate and environmental reporting.
During IPI’s recent panel with media experts on the need to support climate and environmental journalism in Africa, one participant shared her harrowing story. Powerful interest groups threatened her over the phone for her investigation into pollution linked to Uganda’s cement industry. As a female, freelance Ugandan journalist with few resources at her disposal to provide protection, she had to ask a difficult question climate reporters often contend with before publishing: Is this story worth the risk?
Africa’s environmental crisis is intensifying—from droughts to deforestation—yet journalists telling these vital stories face threats, censorship, and disinformation. IPI’s webinar titled “The Big Why” explored the importance of strong climate journalism in light of the risks and challenges that journalists encounter when covering environmental stories.
Dr Marystella Simiyu, IPI’s Africa Senior Legal Advocacy Officer, moderated the panel and reminded participants that climate and environmental issues affect every aspect of our lives and work. Despite this, reporters covering these topics often face threats and rarely receive the necessary support.
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Whether covering illegal mining or land grabs, journalists face intimidation, surveillance, and even physical harm, says panellist Tulani Ngwenya of Oxpeckers Investigative Environmental Journalism in South Africa. Ngwenya described the danger as “a four or five” on a scale of one to five when investigating these issues.
Yet the challenges to reporting on climate and environmental topics are not only security-related; they are also institutional. Newsrooms are shrinking, and climate stories rarely hit the front pages. According to Ibrahima Yakubu, the founder of African Climate Reporters in Nigeria, 70% of Africa’s media do not cover climate stories and lack the training and skillsets to do so. What coverage exists does not reach target audiences, Yakubu says, especially rural and economically marginalised communities where environmental destruction is most acute.
Climate journalism also fails to hold sway since stories of the consequences of environmental degradation rarely reach the right audiences, says Farah Wael, the Cairo-based Advocacy and Engagement Director for Women in News (WIN). Wael stressed the need for climate stories rooted in lived realities, such as rising lake levels in Kenya’s Rift Valley, which resonated locally and led to a government task force. Farah also highlighted the obstacles facing female climate reporters, including limited resources, security risks when travelling to remote areas, and cultural scepticism toward women covering technical subjects.
While the challenges are many, there are several practices journalists can apply to rectify these burdens. Ngwenya’s Oxpeckers use open-source data and investigative tools to provide irrefutable evidence that holds the powerful to account. Integrating investigative journalism with traditional reporting safeguards their content from disinformation campaigns and enhances its impact. All participants pointed out that it takes collaboration and more inclusivity especially in language and voice—to improve climate reporting’s reach and impact. Every month, Yakubu’s organisation hosts “climate hangouts” with diverse stakeholders, including journalists, civil society organisations, scientists, and government representatives, to exchange story ideas and highlight underreported issues. Farah’s WIN provides grants and training to female journalists for projects spotlighting marginalised communities, especially women in neglected areas.
Lydia Kembabazi, IPI’s Africa Program Manager, stated that the main reason for introducing the Climate and Environmental Journalism in Africa (CEJA) program was to address some of the challenges and solutions discussed during the panel. The CEJA program uses an innovative, multistakeholder approach to form a broad-based coalition of press freedom, environmental rights, business, and human rights groups to hold public and private actors accountable for protecting press freedom, access to information, and journalists’ safety. Kembabazi stressed during the “Big Why” panel the value of a robust, fact-based CEJ for building a sustainable future and ensuring inclusive participation in these conversations.
