The South African Civil Society Information Service
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
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The real debates in climate change are around the solutions/false solutions, said environmental activist, Rehana Dada. For example, what is happening with carbon trading? Has it actually resulted in emissions reductions?
REDD, is another example of an issue that is not critically appraised, contended Dada. (REDD stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation - it is a UN programme that is controversial for its negative impact on poor and indigenous peoples). When it...
Bandile Mdlalose of Abahlali baseMjondolo (The South African Shack Dwellers Movement) said that most people think of climate change as a future crisis, but "we at Abahlali baseMjondolo think of it as a crisis that is affecting us now."
She argued that the media should go directly to poor communities to learn first hand how climate change is affecting them. Often the media reports on official positions and perspectives from government, which tends to promote government's...
Nawaal Domingo from the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance said that business was interested in profit only, while the poor were more likely to be interested in preserving our natural resources.
Domingo also reported that there are lots of children dying from asthma in South Durban due to pollution, but that the media doesn't pay too much attention. We need our media to push forth with this issue so that pressure can be placed on government to take action, she contended.
Domingo...
There is a lack of analysis of the broader political economy, globalization and global economic policies that our governments have adopted with respect to reporting on climate change, argued SACSIS columnist, Michelle Pressend.
For example, there is a lot of talk about how farmers have to change their planting seasons, seeds, and so on - but somehow the whole aspect about trade and international subsidies, or how food security and food sovereignty is affected by global corporations, is left...
Glenn Ashton, SACSIS columnist, argued that the nature of the media is really the polarized nature of the media. It doesn't seem to matter much, for example, that the debate over climate denialism is over, it still seems to crop up in newspapers.
Ashton also added that the business media had not picked up on the issue of climate adaptation and how it can be used to kick start local economies.
The debate on power generation always focuses on big things such as nuclear energy and big...
Mohamed Motala, executive director of the Community Agency for Social Enquiry (CASE) asked, "what is it that civil society has to do to make journalists uncomfortable enough to report on an issue - including climate change?"
Motala was concerned that the media does not pay enough attention to cross cutting issues such as poverty, class, race, gender and inequality.
Motala made these remarks at a roundtable discussion, which sought to ascertain how the South African media is...
