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Catholic Journalists in Africa Call for More Reporting Opportunities on the Environment

Some of the participants at the ongoing seminar organized by the Union of the African Catholic Press (UCAP) in Uganda. Credit: Charles Ayetan, UCAP President

Religious leaders in Africa can help protect the environment by initiating initiatives journalists can report on, members of the Union of the African Catholic Press (UCAP) have said.

In a statement they released at the end of the six-day seminar they organized in Uganda, the UCAP members challenged religious leaders in Africa to organize more awareness campaigns for environmental protection.

The Religious leaders, the Catholic journalists said in a statement that was shared with ACI Africa on Monday, November 13, should also “work more to facilitate access and understanding of documents relating to the protection of the environment and the safeguarding of planet earth.”

The Catholic journalists made other recommendations to the international community, as well as the general media fraternity on how to better preserve the environment.

They called on international organizations and civil and political authorities “to continue actions in favor of the protection of the environment and the ecosystem with a view to an integral ecology.”

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They also appealed to the international community to support the initiatives that public institutions and civil society organizations have put in place to protect the environment including awareness campaigns for reforestation.

In their statement following the seminar that ended on November 11, the Catholic Journalists also called on the general media fraternity to remember their mission to “inform, train, and entertain” in their participation in ecological education.

They invited their peers, inclusing those in the secular space to “initiate and implement projects likely to contribute to the protection of the environment and the preservation of the earth.”

In their recommendation, the Catholic journalists also want media houses to investigate, produce, and disseminate media content on ecological crisis situations which, they say, by extension, “cause, fuel, and aggravate other related crises including migratory, economic, and health crises, with their share of consequences on the ecosystem.”

Environmental journalists and communicators from Ghana, Nigeria, Oman, Brazil, Germany, Togo, and Uganda attended the UCAP seminar that was organized under the theme “Contribution of journalists and media practitioners for an integral Ecology according to Pope Francis' encyclical ‘Laudato Si’.”

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The main objective of the seminar that started on November 5 was to build the capacity of media professionals in solving environmental problems that affect the African continent.

Silas Mwale Isenjia is a Kenyan journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communication from Moi University in Kenya. Silas has vast experience in the Media production industry. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.