PACJA set to reward 7th African Climate Change and Environmental Reporting finalists next week
The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) is poised to reward African Climate Change and Environment Reporting Awards (ACCER) winners after receiving 165 entries from African journalists who excel in environmental journalism.
The prizes were presented in front of a worldwide audience on the fringes of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) on June 23 in Kigali, Rwanda.
The judges received the entries disaggregated as print media: 35, radio: 15, TV: 22, online: 83, and vernacular: 5.
There were entries in French, Portuguese, English, and vernacular entries drawn from all the four corners of Africa.
According to the ACCER Award judges, Charles Ayitey (Ghana); Calvin Rock, Cece Siago, Raquel Muigai, and Agnes Oloo (Kenya); Ridwan Karim Dini-Osman (Ghana); Robinson Wanosike, Baguiri Chamsou Dine Koto, and Adjimehossou Fulbert (Benin); Temwa Mhone (Malawi); Marko Taibot (Uganda); and Michel Nkurunziza (Rwanda) were judged as having presented entries that met criteria as set by the call for entries and were within the thematic areas that the ACCER Planning Committee had set.
“As expected, the quality of entries was many and our team had to put their best feet forward in deciding who the finalists were. It was an exercise that needed patience, back and forth engagement, and making hard decisions,” said Kioko Ireri, who chaired a team of seven judges meeting in Machakos County, East of Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi.
This year’s awards take place as Africa prepares to host the 27th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Egypt later this year.
The purpose and fundamental intention of ACCER are not only to redefine the African narrative as it is advocated in Climate Change and Environment debates, but also to create a new culture and consciousness about how we use biological resources in our environment and lessen our carbon footprint.
Furthermore, the decision to develop the ACCER Awards was influenced by the understanding that CSOs and governments were constrained in generating the necessary degree of climate change awareness.
“The decision to launch ACCER Award was influenced by the 4th Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCCC) which projected Africa as the region set to suffer the most by the climate change phenomenon,” said Charles Mwangi, the Acting Executive Director of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance.
He added that ACCER is purposed at enlivening Climate Change and environment education by way of rewarding exemplary reporting on Climate Change and the Environment in Africa.
