About 30 media representatives from three South Caucasus Countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia“ took part in the “Media Workshop for environmental journalists on land degradation neutrality (LDN) target setting in South Caucasus”, jointly organized by REC Caucasus, GiZ and UNCCD, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification secretariat, with financing from BMZ, on May 2-5, 2017 in Tbilisi, Georgia.
The workshop was welcomed and opened by Ms Ekaterine Grigalava – Deputy Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Protection of Georgia, Mr. Daniel Haas – Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Georgia, Mr. Hans-Joachim Lipp – GiZ, Program Director, Ms. Jamal Annagylyjova – Programme Officer / Central and Eastern Europe United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
The participants were informed on the results of ongoing LDN target setting programs in South Caucasus countries by UNCCD focal points from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The interaction and active feedback was provided by journalists to the presentation by UNCCD programme officer on the topic of Land and Social security. UNCCD representative has introduced opportunities for journalists which are targeting improved co-operation and skill building schemes and knowledge helping media to highlight and present land degradation issues in a more accessible.
Journalists had an opportunity to familiarize themselves with results of the relevant projects implemented by partner agencies including UNDP, UNEP / GEF, GiZ and REC Caucasus. The workshop has discussed opportunities for journalists from South Caucasus countries to participate and broadcast Conference of Parties 13 in Ordos, China.
The training session was combined with a field trip to Dedoplistkaro, showcasing the best practices of sustainable land management piloted by GiZ in the framework of Integrated Biodiversity Management in South Caucasus (IBIS) project. GiZ and REC Caucasus have presented a new joint initiative on creation of Regional platform/network on biodiversity and ecosystem services – a Facebook group to ensure regional dialogue and information exchange between stakeholders from all 3 South Caucasus countries. Journalists from the region kindly agreed to become active contributors of the network. As a part of one week intensive training course and its closing session organizers have also initiated photo exhibition ‘Land Matters”.
As a result of the training the journalists were encouraged to prepare well designed articles and to develop country/region plan to raise awareness about land degradation issues and promote LDN. those plans will help to activate and ensure increased engagement of Journalists from South Caucasus region in the global processes convened at country level.
UNCCD is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management. Followed the endorsement of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 the UNCCD plays the role of leading agency in monitoring of the SDGs Target 15.3 “By 2030, combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, drought and floods, and strive to achieve a land degradation-neutral world”.
To read more: http://www2.unccd.int/…/supporting-countries-set-land-degra…
The Regional Environmental Center (REC) for the Caucasus is an non-profit organization, with headquarters in Tbilisi, Georgia and country offices in Yerevan, Armenia and Baku, Azerbaijan. In the context of RECC’s long-term commitment is to promote sustainable land management, topic area activities focus on Policy Formulation, Capacity Development, Communication and Information Dissemination in the region of South Caucasus, Eastern Europe and beyond. REC Caucasus is to serve as a “bridge” between governments and the public.
