Expert canvasses for livelihood options for forestry depended communities

He made the call while presenting a paper at the Post-Warsaw and media training workshop organised by Heinrich Boll Foundation and Climate and Sustainable Development Network (CSDevNet).REDD+ is a collaborative partnership among three United Nations agencies with the aim of supporting and providing incentives to developing countries for the protection and conservation of their standing […]

He made the call while presenting a paper at the Post-Warsaw and media training workshop organised by Heinrich Boll Foundation and Climate and Sustainable Development Network (CSDevNet).
REDD+ is a collaborative partnership among three United Nations agencies with the aim of supporting and providing incentives to developing countries for the protection and conservation of their standing natural forests with the aim of contributing to the mitigation of climate change and promoting sustainable livelihoods amongst forest dependent communities.
He said some of the drivers of deforestation include mining and mineral exploration, natural disasters like flooding, settlement and urbanisation and infrastructure development.
In his paper on the media coverage of REDD + in Nigeria, Lawal Sani Kona of Radio Taraba, said analysis of the coverage of REDD + by national dailies and broadcast media so  far revealed that it received a very shallow and superficial coverage  and most of them are event dominated coverage.
He said: “We are presented a scenario in which we wait for views that are likely to come from the top as far as REDD + is concerned. We wait for the minister; we wait for inaugurations, launchings of programmes and invitations before we report on REDD+ or any other conservation programme.  REDD+ projects maybe a situated within our locality but its ramifications is universal, beginning from the forest communities, nations, and the planet in its entirety.”
He said journalists are supposed to serve as catalysts of enlightenment and providing information that may highlight fault lines encountered in the practical interpretation of this noble concept of REDD+, adding that such enlightenment could help draw the attention of policy makers, carbon traders and supervisory experts to these grey areas where ever they manifest.
Kona said reporting REDD+ in Nigeria and the world needed networking, follow up and providing depth to stories, especially as some people have ill informed knowledge about climate change.