Providing environmental news of high-quality
Fostering greater forest accountability through journalism.
Organization
Mongabay
Mongabay, an environmental science and conservation news service, will produce a series of articles that explore issues related to REDD+, including deforestation, commodity supply chains, forest conservation, and models for green growth, in 13 NICFI countries.
Why
Quality journalism fuels dialogue between government, NGOs, communities, and companies as well as concerned citizens in an effort to find solutions to environmental challenges.
Objective reporting and analysis also fosters greater transparency by holding various stakeholders to account and disseminating information about successful -- and unsuccessful -- approaches to addressing these challenges. Yet mainstream media outlets have cut back on science and environment reporting in recent years, leaving a dearth of thoughtful and credible stories on these issues.
Budget
Norad intends to offer NOK 7,5 million in total for the period 2016-2020.
What
The project will respond to this need, by producing over 1,000 stories that explore issues related to deforestation and forest conservation in Indonesia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Guyana, Liberia, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Myanmar and Vietnam. These stories -- which will be published by Mongabay and its global network of reporters in English, Spanish, and Indonesian, among other languages -- will be freely available for use by anyone, including NGOs, commercial media outlets, and blogs, reaching millions of people, including key stakeholders and decision makers. The timely, relevant, and credible information provided by these stories will inform, educate, and inspire audiences, facilitating dialogue, improving transparency and accountability, fostering critical analysis, and disseminating innovations and best practices.
Expected results
The project will produce at least 150 stories in English and 60 articles in Spanish a year for five years. This robust body of high-quality environmental journalism, published both internationally and locally in high-priority nations, will support a focused and educated dialogue on issues related to REDD+, commodity supply chains, and forests. Latin America, a high-priority region for forest conservation and climate change mitigation, will have a region-wide environmental news service with daily coverage.
Partners
Not applicable.