a new initiative that connects media and science communities around the topic of climate change, with ‘digital innovation’ as the backbone.
The initiative offers programmes for both media and science communities. It supports storytellers to produce engaging stories about climate change with 'science' in mind. It also helps scientists simplify their communication so that the storytellers can accurately report about the topic with scientific facts, data and evidence.
Read moreA 6-month Climate Change Immersive Story Accelerator
The Climate Change Immersive Story Accelerator is a new 6-month media support programme for journalists who are eager to get started with producing immersive stories on climate change. As a pilot project, the European Forest Institute and the Global Editors Network have launched its very first edition called Lookout360° that focuses on 360-degree video storytelling.
Read more
A Scientist's Point of View
The importance of Science-Media interface in the 21st century
This century is characterised by accelerated changes and unprecedented global challenges: climate change, water, energy and food security, migration crisis and biodiversity loss among others. These challenges are in one way or another related to the defining issue of our time: how to decouple economic growth from social and environmental degradation.
Read moreHow the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Can Be a Pilot for Global Sustainability
The world’s top athletes at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will receive medals made of gold, silver, and bronze harvested from Japan’s “urban mine” of discarded smartphones and consumer electronics. The initiative is part of a nationwide push to “green” the Olympics, and is a promising — and needed — early step. Research on e-waste from the United Nations University, shows that the volume of discarded electronics in Asia jumped by 63 per cent in the last five years, making the region the highest e-waste producer in the world. Raising awareness of this issue, and focusing public activism towards e-waste recycling, will deliver benefits far beyond the Olympic podium. But this is just one step in a longer race.
Read moreNature knows best: nature’s own solutions for man-made challenges
Humans love nature and want to be as close to it as possible - and at the same time well protected from its extreme conditions. Humans also want everything that nature and its ecosystems can offer, often to the extent of exploitation. Once the balance is disturbed, repairs and artificial solutions may shift the problem to other areas, or even aggravate it. So how about looking for solutions, which nature has easily to offer, and trying to understand how ecosystems work? Getting help from nature, for sustainable and balanced use of nature?
Read moreMaking European forests more resilient is crucial in response to climate change and intensified disturbances
Trees are long-lived organisms and it usually takes 60 to 150 years from seeding or planting to the final harvesting of wood in European forests. In this period, our climate is expected to warm substantially, along with changes in rainfall patterns. Already today, we can observe impacts of climate change with increased mortality close to dry distribution limits of tree species. We will also face more extreme events and associated disturbances.
Read moreBaka indigenous peoples: climate change and illegal logging making their lives harder
The Baka indigenous peoples, a hunter-gatherer community, live deep in the rainforest of Congo Basin in Cameroon. Some 40 thousands Baka peoples live in the south-west of the country. Forests are everything for the community – their house, school, source of livelihood all depends on the forest. However, the Baka, especially the women, are experiencing harsher living conditions today than in the past; a situation attributed to climate change, deforestation and illegal activities.
Read more