A podcast from AMARC
writes Marcelo Solervicens, Secretary General of AMARC

Climate Change Challenges: Building Bridges Through Community Radio

The scientific reality of climate change has finally been recognised and the report of the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change has set the background for what has become one of the key development challenges of the 21st century (see http://www.ipcc.ch . Climate change effects will roll back development successes unless mitigation and adaptation strategies are grounded in collaborative strategic approaches between global and local actors. Community Radio can become an important bridge by its communication for development tool nature. Furthermore, through the appropriate use of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) they can favor the interaction between global and local strategies, between local knowledge and international science, thus increasing the effects of the interventions where they are most needed.

Community Radio practitioners and community media have been using new ICTs, mainly Internet and cell phones to increase the awareness of the effects of climate change in local communities around the world: among others, natural disaster prevention and management; increased challenges on food security, health, water and sanitation.

Community radio projects for climate change mitigation and adaptation are closely linked to the objective of producing radio programming with the participation of the community, on giving voice to individuals and local organisations. They value local knowledge and facilitate critical knowledge exchange at the international level with experts and institutions.

One example is the project “Disaster management and Poverty Reduction through Community radio” supported by the Ford Foundation, is developed by AMARC in the Asia pacific region in collaboration with Combine Resources Institution and the Association of Community Broadcasters (JRKI) in Indonesia and the AMARC Japan working group. (visit: http://asiapacific.amarc.org/index.php?p=25th_anniversary_training_Asia_... )

The project seeks to facilitate exchanges among CR in order to improve their social impact on delivery mechanisms in face of Tsunamis and the resulting poverty increase. It is a matter of reinforcing CR role as a forum for exchanges by community social actors by assessing current practices of community radios and determine how to increase the effectiveness of community radio interventions.

Other CR network interventions are related to combat the consequences of climate change on water, on food security and poverty. Variations in water quantity and quality due to climate change challenge agriculture practices, and the instability results in increasing food prices.

The Forum on challenges of climate change, of Onda Rural, an initiative of AMARC LAC, in partnership with ALER and FAO allows for knowledge exchange between Community Radio practitioners and stakeholders on climate change effects. (visit http://onda-rural.net ). Community radios participating in the global broadcast on October 16, World Food Day, increasingly includes subjects related to the effects of climate exchange and the mitigation and adaptation strategies proposed by social and institutional actors. (visit http://asiapacific.amarc.org/index.php?p=World_Food_Day_2008&l=EN&nosafe...)
The time has come for the global community radio movement, to reflect on how to better contribute to reinforce the role of the third sector of communications, community media, in the struggle against climate change. There is need to highlight local knowledge and experiences on fighting the effects of climate change and make the link with the international debate, the science and strategies of global institutions.

AMARC world-wide network challenge is to contribute to reinforce the pivotal role of its community radio as the centre of a communication for development process of individuals and social actors that exercice their communication rights in the struggle against climate change