Back to news
17 Sep 2015 | News

Environmental media training for NEPA officials and media representatives

2 mins Read

70% Complete

ICIMOD and the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) of Afghanistan organised a week-long Communication and Media Training on Environment from 24 to 28 August 2015 at ICIMOD’s headquarters in Kathmandu. The training was attended by six Afghani journalists who cover issues relating to the environment. The program was part of ICIMOD’s Knowledge Management capacity building activities that target partner institutions in regional member countries and surrounding local communities.

The program’s aim was to provide an overall understanding of regional and global environmental issues related to climate change, livelihood, gender, disaster preparedness, and environmental reporting. Over the week, the journalists became familiar with mountain issues through demonstrations and field visits to local communities. The hands-on training provided the journalists opportunities to see how communities could become climate smart.

While at ICIMOD, staff shared their expertise on environmental reporting, media and climate change, engaging with media, social media, photo composition, story development, and news writing.

The journalists enjoyed field visits to ICIMOD Knowledge Park at Godavari and Kavre. The Knowledge Park visit on 25 August provided the attendees a chance to see innovative technologies that are now providing solutions to challenges faced by mountain farmers. Of special interest was the community-based flood early warning system demonstration, a low-cost technology that helps people at the time of floods. On 26 August, the group headed to Kavre to learn how two ICIMOD project sites were organised. At Dapcha, Daraune Pokhari the journalists saw the spring and ponds project site where a representative from ICIMOD’s partner organisation, Nepal Water Conservation Foundation (NWCF), explained the relationship between rainfall, groundwater recharge and spring water availability and their impact on rural livelihoods. Afterward, the journalists spent time with the villagers asking questions.

The next stop was the Climate Smart Villages developed by ICIMOD and its partner Centre for Environment and Agriculture Policy Research Extension and Development (CEAPRED). There, the journalists learned about the  production and use of bio fertiliser, bio pesticides, wastewater and rainwater collection, mixed cropping, nitrogen fixation by intercropping, SMS notification systems, and biogas plant installation.

The attendees also had the chance to visit the Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists (NEFEJ) on 27 August. NEFEJ is a non-governmental organisation working to raise public awareness on the environment, sustainable development, and other social issues.  NEFEJ’s opened their facility to the journalists and included a tour of their video and audio production facilities, the news room, audio and visual libraries and included a talk with NEFEJ General  Secretary,  Nimes Regmi.

On the last day of the training, the participants shared their experiences, observation, and highlights of the workshop. They were interested in seeing NEPA and ICIMOD continue collaborating in the future and expressed a desire to see the program expand to others in Afghanistan.

Stay current

Stay up to date on what’s happening around the HKH with our most recent publications and find out how you can help by subscribing to our mailing list.

Sign Up

related contents

Continue exploring this topic

10 Jun 2017 News
Silently Marching for Lake Nainital

This year's World Environment Day, a day through which awareness for our natural environment is raised, was celebrated with much ...

28 May 2013 HICAP
Scoping mission to Assam, India for place-based study on Food Security and Gender

A scoping mission with a team from Aaranyak led by Suman Bisht and Sarah Nischalke from ICIMOD visited five villages in Tinsukia ...

23 Jul 2015 News
Expanding commercial banana production in Nepal

Using ecological niche modelling to guide farmers and the Government of Nepal.  Banana is a high-value agricultural product and ...

14 Aug 2015 News
Glacier and glacial lakes database of Bhutan released

Dignitaries and scientists gathered for a workshop 14th August 2015 at ...

12 Mar 2018 News
ICIMOD DG Pays Courtesy Call to Chinese Ambassador to Nepal

During the visit, Molden introduced ICIMOD as a regional intergovernmental learning and knowledge sharing centre serving the eight regional member ...

29 Jul 2015 News
A practical lesson for Bhutanese farmers

As part of support for Rural Livelihoods and Climate Change Adaptation Programme (Himalica), a hands-on training on sustainable land management ...

13 May 2016 Gender
Empowering Women as Agents of Change in Taplejung, Nepal

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development’s (ICIMOD) Rural Livelihoods and Climate Change Adaptation in the Himalayas (Himalica) Programme, in ...

17 Mar 2015 Atmosphere Initiative
Conference on alternatives to open agricultural burning

To discuss the extent to which open burning of agricultural residue and waste causes black carbon emissions and to explore ...