Bonn (Germany) – “Environmental politics today is about foreign policy and international security,” Mr. Werner Hoyer, Minister of State from the German Federal Foreign Office, said at the opening of the 2010 Global Media Forum under the theme, “The Heat is On – Climate Change and the Media”, currently taking place in Bonn, Germany from June 21-23.
Hoyer said an Environment Ministers Meeting at the Petersberg in Bonn at the beginning of May 2010 led to the institution of concrete measures in many countries, and observed that “a stable climate is essential for the economy”.
He called on journalists to report more about the risks and opportunities associated with climate change and said that in this regard independent media sources were essential. For this purpose, he said, intensive training for journalists will become more and more important – like that which is offered by DW-AKADEMIE to Deutsche Welle partners in many countries.
Mr. Yvo de Boer, Former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in his keynote address, said, “Cancun has the potential to complete what was started in Copenhagen,” referring to the upcoming Climate Conference in Mexico and urged the media, to “please keep fighting”.
Hermann Scheer, President of EUROSOLAR, a European Commission programme, which aims to reduce poverty by giving isolated rural communities with no access to electricity a renewable source of electrical energy, said, “People don’t want green-washing methods, they want green solutions.”
He said that there were too many stories about the problems associated with climate change and not enough about possible solutions – and the media needs to combat the “no-future” attitude. Scheer said the focus should be more on successful, local measures. Germany has to be a leader in the future as well, because German initiatives have become the model for 40 or 50 other countries.
Bertrand Piccard, the Swiss adventurer, presented his Solar Impulse project. Piccard plans to circle the world in a solar-powered airplane. He said that the “pioneer experience” is missing in the climate debate.
“We have to speak about solutions and profits instead of problems and costs.” Piccard noted that today’s technology makes it possible to save 50 per cent of the fossil fuels that we waste daily. He also said that the media should not only inform – but also encourage and take part in an attitudinal shift.
The 12-year-old Climate Ambassador Felix Finkbeiner, who initiated the project “Plant for the Planet”, called for children and young adults to get involved in the climate debate. “It’s not just about saving the polar bears – it’s about saving our future,” said Finkbeiner. He also announced that he had plans to present a three-point plan to Chancellor Angela Merkel: “First: Carbon into museums. Second: Climate justice. Third: Plant trees.”
Approximately 1,500 people from 95 countries are participating in the third Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum. Co-host of the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum is the Foundation for International Dialogue of the Sparkasse in Bonn.
The convention is also supported by Germany’s Federal Foreign Office, the Family, Women and Integration Ministry of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, European Funds for Regional Development, the city of Bonn, DHL, the KSB Group and Faber-Castell.
(From Boakye-Dankwa Boadi, GNA Special Correspondent, Bonn, Germany.)
