“This year’s theme highlights the critical role of radio in raising awareness, educating communities, and mobilizing action to address the pressing environmental challenges affecting our nation and the world,” the official of the Communication Commission of Zambia’s Catholic Bishops says.
Referring to Pope Francis’ 2015 Encyclical Letter on care for our common home, Laudato Si’, he say that “climate change is a moral issue that demands immediate action from governments, institutions, and individuals.”
The Holy Father’s message on climate change, Fr. Ntembula says, “continues to call for a renewed commitment to protecting our common home.”
“In Zambia, we must respond by taking bold steps to safeguard our environment, promote reforestation, and shift towards renewable energy alternatives,” he says in his message for World Radio Day 2025.
The Zambian Catholic Priest goes on to call upon those involved in radio production and related programs to realize how widely spread the medium is and with easy access and engage it for climate reporting, educating communities about climate change and its impact on daily life.
“Radio also assumes the responsibility of holding policymakers accountable for implementing climate adaptation and mitigation measures and amplifying the voices of vulnerable communities affected by climate change, especially farmers and rural populations,” he says.
In the message he signed, Fr. Ntembula says that “ZCCB urges all media houses in Zambia to prioritize climate reporting and for all the Catholic radio stations to integrate the message of Laudato Si’ into their programming.”
“Let us use radio as a platform to inspire action, build resilience, and call for policies that protect the environment for future generations,” he emphasizes.
The Catholic Priest continues, “We also call on the government, civil society, and faith-based organizations to work together in addressing the effects of climate change. As people of faith, we are reminded that caring for creation is not optional; it is a divine responsibility.”
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the WRD was instituted on 13 February 2012. On the annual event, UNESCO recognizes the radio’s contribution to “the achievement of its international objectives by supporting populations through climate disasters such as tropical storms and floods.”
