ANEJ -Gambia Launched

The African Network of Environmental Journalists (ANEJ) was on Wednesday officially launched at the end of a three-day training workshop for environmental journalists at The Gambia Press Union headquarters in Bakau.

The network has been established in The Gambia since November 2008 and is called the Africa Network of Environmental Journalists-Gambia chapter (ANEJ-Gambia). Since its inception, this chapter has made efforts to network with UNEP, UNDP, ANEJ-Africa, governments, media institutions and environmental organisations like the National Environment Agency to name but few, in order to bring environmental information to the doorstep of the people.

In his launch statement, the Secretary of State for Forestry and Environment, Momodou Kotu Cham, said that the media has a primary role to play in research and to gather and disseminate accurate information on environmental matters. "As environmental journalists you are required to familiarise yourselves with policies and programmes implemented at the national, sub-regional and regional levels for proper environmental management reports. You also need to be aware of the importance of the Millennium Development Goals, the implementation of the Poverty Alleviation Strategy Paper as envisaged in vision 2020 for both Economic and Social development of this country," he noted.

"I would also like to advise you to critically look into issues such as the threats, pressures and constraints that continuously and repeatedly affect natural resources, biological diversity and human settlements, the links between the environmental status and climate change, food security, health, the wellbeing of the populations and economic and social development when reporting on environmental issues," he said.

Ebrima Darboe, senior assistant secretary at the Department of State for Forestry and Environment, deputised his secretary of state at the launch.

Madi Ceesay, director of Media Agenda, underscored the importance of the training for environmental journalists.

He congratulated the environmental journalists for the initiative.