Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum 2010
"The heat is on! Climate change and the media"
International conference, 21-23 June, Bonn/Germany
Climate change is THE topic for the decades
ahead. What role do and should the media play in
treating the "story of the century"? What are
the current strenghts and weaknesses of the
media? What must be improved? How can
entertainment programs be used to bring the message home?
Organizations like Internews, Panos and the iied
(International Institute for Environment and
Development), media21 in Geneva and others have
been working on this topic for a considerable
time already. And there is little need to
mention Copenhagen in December and what depends
on it. This all provides a great deal of
valuable expertise and experience around for the
benefit of next year´s Global Media Forum at the end of June here in Bonn .
Organizations which have either already agreed
to support the conference actively or which have
shown interest to do so include UNESCO, ABU, the
UN Climate Change Secretariat, CBA, Canal France
International, Reporters Without Borders,
SIGNIS, GPACC, Critical Distance, BICC, the
Wuppertal Institute, Institute for Advanced
Study in the Humanities (KWI), Potsdam Institute
for Climate Impact Research (PIK), German
Federal Ministry for Education and Science, DEG,
InWEnt, Climate Broadcasters Network - Europe,
International Youth Conference for Environment... the list goes on and on.
The vast majority of the scientific world agrees
that the environment would collapse with an
increase in global temperature beyond 2°
Celsius. Combating global warming and its
potential dangers requires various forms of action.
Adaptation - minimizing the effects of unusual
and extreme weather events such as heat waves,
wind storms, floods and droughts.
Mitigation - reducing the causes of climate
change and global warming (designing energy
policy, advancing renewable energies, eliminating the use of fossil fuels).
Vision - transforming into a post-fossil fuel,
sustainable, low-carbon society.
All of this requires a fundamental change in
attitude, behavior and lifestyle at an
individual level as well as in the economic and
political realms at large. Here is where media
can and must play a crucial role. These matters
of consciousness and awareness are profoundly shaped by the media.
The 2010 conference will bring together media
users and producers, scientists, peace keeping
and conf lict prevention specialists, energy
industry experts, policy makers as well as
representatives from international, grassroots
and non-governmental organizations to discuss
how to harmonize individual and collective
action in order to steer the world away from a
foreboding future and instead toward genuine
sustainability. The role the media play in this
process will consistently be in focus during the three-day conference.
Topics include so far:
· Climate change - the road ahead
· Ways towards a low-carbon economy
· Costs and consequences of adapting to
global warming and the impact on North-South relations
· Understanding science and negotiations
under post-Copenhagen conditions
· The media's role in scientific scenarios and infrastructure change
· Raising awareness and galvanizing action in audiences
· The role of the media in preserving the basis of people's existance
· Taking stock of climate change in the news worldwide
· The special responsibility of public broadcasters
· Communicating climate information: the media, PR and education
· Tense relations between journalists and scientists
· Objectivity at stake? Journalism and "green" companies
· From science journalism to mainstream media
· Journalists as eyewitnesses of climate change
· Responding to global warming skepticism
· Gender and climate change
· Localizing global issues
· Coverage vs. advocacy. Does the media
guide or reflect cultural shift?
· Climate-induced migration
· The information gap in developing
countries and the role of the (new) media
The documentation of this year´s Deutsche Welle
Global Media Forum "Conflict prevention in the
multi-media age" can be downloaded
<http://www.dw-gmf.de/download/GMF-Doku-2009-web.pdf>here.
Conference Secretariat
Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum
Organisation: DW ? MEDIA SERVICES GmbH
Kurt-Schumacher-Str. 3
53113 Bonn , Germany
Phone: +49.228.429-2142
Fax: +49.228.429-2140
(gmf /at/ dw-world.de)
<http://www.dw-gmf.de/>http://www.dw-gmf.de/
<http://www.dw-gmf.de>
