The project " Reinforcing the role of media in addressing the climate emergency " has been launched with the aim of improving public awareness of climate change in the Western Balkans region. Studies have shown that people in the region are not sufficiently informed about climate change, and journalists lack the knowledge and skills to adequately report on this increasingly critical phenomenon. This situation seriously undermines the role of the media in confronting the climate crisis, whether through reporting, monitoring, or campaigns for a more systematic and synchronized response to the challenges of climate change.

 

The overall goal of the project is to enhance professional media reporting on the climate crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, and Serbia. 

 

The specific objectives are: 1) to raise awareness and capacities among journalists and editors in the WB on the climate crises, the threat it poses to sustainable development in target countries and the urgency of the synchronized response on the regional level; 2) To strengthen the connections between citizens, CSOs active in the climate crises advocacy, experts and scientist, state and regional institutions with authority/mandate to develop and implement environmental policies and journalists/media; 3) To engage journalists in facts, science and solutions-based reporting on the climate crises, to question, investigate and monitor national governments’ and regional efforts to address the climate crises challenges.

 

The project "Strengthening the Role of Media in Confronting the Climate Crisis" is being implemented by the Novi Sad School of Journalism with the support of partner organizations - the Albanian Media Institute, the Media Center Foundation, the Montenegrin Media Institute, and the Macedonian Institute for Media. The project will run from January 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024.

 

The activities are carried out through the SMART Balkans project - Civil Society for a Connected Western Balkans, implemented by the Center for the Promotion of Civil Society (CPCD) from Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with partner organizations from Albania - the Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM) and North Macedonia - the Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM), which is financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.