BAJ director attends France biodiversity confab

Journalist and blogger Mamadou Edrisa Njie, who arrived at Aeroport Marseille Provence October 28, told TNBES the experience will help him interact and expand contact with scientists and as well leave the conference “empowered and well-connected”. Photo Credit: Facebook/Niani Ebrisanjie Kanda

Journalists’ leader attributes ‘little reporting' on environment to low capacity

Participants and facilitators pose after opening ceremony (Photo Credit:BAJ-Gambia/March2014)

President of The Gambia Press Union, Bai Emil Touray, has said “capacity on environment issues is at low ebb since there are little reports on environmental issues on [local] radio stations and newspapers.”

The protection of the environment is a collective responsibility - especially for journalists, Mr Touray told a March 15 Biodiversity Action Journalists The Gambia (BAJ-Gambia)-organised training workshop for editors, web designers and radio producers at Wellingara Horticulture Model Centre.

He said it is important that journalists provide the people with accurate and timely information on environmental matters – and encourages BAJ and its partners to not only train journalists but also embark on research projects.

BAJ coordinator attends Kenya climate change training

BAJ Coordinator, Abdou Rahman Sallah (Photo: Mansa Banko)

The national coordinator of Biodiversity Action Journalists (BAJ Gambia), Abdou Rahman Sallah, left for Kenya on January 25 to take part in a two weeks training on Climate Change.

Mr Sallah, an environmental journalist, selected from a pool of applicants by the organisers, the Kenya-based Youth Encounter on Sustainability (YES) to partake  in the January 28–February 14 climate change course.

The two weeks intensive course is facilitate by myclimate, a Swiss non-profit foundation together with ACTIS, a spin-off organisation of ETH Zürich, in cooperation with UNEP, and the Alliance for Global Sustainability (AGS) – an environmental research partnership between the ETH Zürich, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Tokyo (UT) and the Chalmers Technical University in Göteborg, Sweden.

‘Information is Crucial to Sustainable Development’

Participants (Photo: Mamadou Edrisa Njie)

Information is crucial to sustainable development and this (BAJ-Gambia awareness) project aims to promote sustainable development through the provision of accurate, timely and cost-effective information to shareholders, says Kebba Bojang, national country coordinator, Global Environmental Facility (GEF).

He was speaking on Thursday 31 October during the official launch of $25,000 Biodiversity Action Journalists-Gambia (BAJ-Gambia) project on “public awareness [creation] on environmental protection” held at Tango conference hall at Fajara.

The project is intended to create awareness creation on environmental protection and conservation techniques, create a platform for information sharing on matters relating to the environment, and enhance public awareness on environmental protection and mitigation strategies. 

The Birth of Biodiversity Action Journalists, BAJ Gambia

Mr Abdou Rahman Sallah is BAJ GAMBIA NATIONAL COORDINATOR