15th Highway Africa sets the stage for COP 17

This year’s Highway Africa (HA) Conference ran under the banner “African Media and the Global Sustainability Challenge.” HA is a meeting that brings together African journalists in the world to discuss pertinent media issues and development in Africa in the face of ICTs.

The effects of global warming cannot be ignored; neither can the effects on Africa and its people be underestimated. This is a continent which has its own challenges, HIV and AIDs, conflict, poverty among other things. A woman in Somalia, with three children who do not have food cannot understand the importance of discussing climate change. The media thus have to come up with creative ways to bring climate change issues to the fore and to convince a people who are faced with other challenges to actively engage in discussions of the impact on sustainable development. The conference thus discussed the following issues:

• How is the global media framing the sustainability challenge?
• How is African media responding to the climate change debates and issues?
• How can African media play a greater role in the information, communication and discourse on climate change and sustainability?
• What are the capacity gaps in African media that hamper effective reporting?
• How can stakeholders partner with African media in terms of deeper understanding and coverage of the climate change and sustainability story?
• How can African media prepare adequately for the Climate Change Summit and what platforms would be used to cover the event effectively?

The discussions from the conference will be taken to COP17 and different stakeholders are strategising on what the COP 17 should achieve.