CURRIMAO, Ilocos Norte, Nov. 21 (PIA) – Media members and public information officers are gathered here today for climate change talks as the Aquino administration continues its campaign for community resilience under the national program “Nagbabago na Ang Panahon, Panahon na Para Magbago” (weather is changing, time for change).
A joint campaign of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Philippine Information Agency, the climate change advocacy is part of a one-year agreement that the two agencies signed in November last year to reduce the impact of changing weather patterns through information and education.
For Region 1, the campaign is on its last stretch following the regional campaign launch that the agencies conducted in San Fernando City in La Union in August.
Today’s media forum will address the important functions of community journalists and government communicators as they perform their duties in the era of Climate Change.
It is also a venue to discuss the challenges they face as they perform their roles, as both victims of disasters and at the same time bearers of information.
The forum will also provide the participants with tools and skills necessary in covering and reporting on the environment, disasters and community struggles during calamities.
Currimao, which is the home of an ongoing solar power plant project, was the logical choice for the forum to remind participants of the government’s commitment to build more renewable energies and deliver clean energy to power consumers.
Ilocos Norte, now tagged as the center of renewable energies in Southeast Asia, also boasts of a hydropower plant in Pagudpud town and wind farms in the towns of Bangui, Burgos and Pagudpud.
The PIA got experts in various fields on board to share their experiences in addressing climate change.
The forum will try to create a space for media members and information officers to discuss climate change issues which they can utilize when they return to their workplaces and communities. (MCA-PIA La Union)
