Science Panel for the Amazon Supports Agência BORI for an Online Course for Northern Journalists in Brazil
Agência BORI, with the support of Science Panel for the Amazon and its authors, held an online course called “Amazônia em Pauta” on April 26th and 27th for journalists from the Northern region of Brazil. The course’s objective was to help communicate the importance of the Amazon and teach journalists how to improve their coverage of the Amazon. The course was supported by the Instituto Clima e Sociedade (iCS), was free of charge, and was intended exclusively for journalists working in the northern region of the country.
The workshop, Amazônia em Pauta (Amazon on the agenda,) was virtually hosted by Agência Bori. 20 participants joined from the states of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia e Roraima, representing media outlets such as Amazônia Real, O Liberal, O Vocativo, Real Time, Brasil Amazônia Agora, Jornal Em Tempo, Agência Embrapa, Jornal A Crítica and TV A Crítica.
This workshop was Bori's first initiative exclusively for journalists who work on the Brazilian Amazon. The program was entirely dedicated to their specific demands. Scientists David Lapola and Marina Hirota, from SDSN’s Science Panel for the Amazon (SPA), joined to share more about climate impacts in the region, including discussions about climate projections (what already happened and what are the possible scenarios for the future), tipping points, misconceptions about the Amazon climate system, and how journalists and scientists can find a common language to fight denialism and help people to understand the urgency of the matter.
On the second day, the Amazonian researchers Patricia Chaves de Oliveira, professor at Federal University of Western Pará, and Raquel Tupinambá, PhD candidate in Anthropology at Universidade de Brasília, led a discussion with the journalists on the impact of climate change on people's lives and the importance of Amazon sociobiodiversity for food security and the circular economy. The program provided the opportunity to reunite journalists and scientists to discuss coverage gaps, such as sustainable solutions developed by traditional populations who live in the Amazon.
You can see more details of the event on the BORI website. This online course is important and timely to the upcoming Brazilian and Colombian elections and aims to ensure that journalists understand the importance of the Amazon and how they can cover topics relating to the Amazon thoroughly. The journalists who attended had reported many deficiencies in their training to deal with issues about the environment and climate change in their daily coverage, and SPA authors had the opportunity to present important themes found in their 2021 Amazon Assessment Report.