Tackling climate change and Disaster risk in the media

The severity of risks from disasters and climate change has become one of the biggest challenges worldwide today, leading to loss of lives and properties. Experts therefore sound an alarm to prevent the occurrence of these tragedies, hence the organization of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) facilitated training from May 30th- 31 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. that brought together experts and specialists to deliberate on the DRR issues.

The training focused on the role played by the media to communicate effectively before, during and after a disaster.

Participants called for the use of "Early Warning Systems" a UN launched adaptive measure embraced by 37 countries around the world which involves using communication devices to send alerts on various weather patterns in specific places and works are underway to provide all countries with the innovation by 2027.

In this context, Eliot CHRISTIAN, a Consultant in the "Joint Alert Protocol" system "CAP", concerned with coordinating with all local, regional and international bodies through providing the necessary disaster risks alerts to people, says the system is one of the ITU standards for emergency alerts and all-hazard warnings across all types of ICT networks.

The workshop also witnessed the interaction of journalists and representatives of media organizations from a number of countries such as Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates, who highlighted their experiences and how they deal with disasters, especially the role played by the media in alerting and warning citizens.

It also enabled the exchange of visions and experiences between the African Union of Broadcasting Center of Content Exchange and its sister unions.

The two- day training comes ahead of the COP 28 slated for November 30 to December 12, 2023 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.