From August 17–19 in Kalutara, CIR, in partnership with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung’s Media Programme Asia, conducted a three-day Environmental Crises Reporting Training for 26 journalists from 12 countries across South and Southeast Asia. The participants were selected from an overwhelming 700+ applications received.
The training explored the full disaster cycle from preparedness and early warning to crisis response, recovery and accountability. Participants also worked with tools including AI, data and satellite imagery, while examining ethical, solutions-focused and investigative approaches to environmental reporting.
Beyond the sessions themselves, one of the most valuable aspects was the opportunity for journalists from different countries to exchange experiences and recognize how many of the challenges facing our communities are shared.
As Bidhya Rai from Nepal reflected:
“Had great sessions from all trainers, wonderful networking, and opportunities to exchange experiences among damn good colleagues from across region.”
Yash Sadhak Shrivastava from India said the training made him realize how common many of the challenges are, particularly as communities across the region face the impacts of climate change. He also highlighted the sessions on data journalism and visual storytelling, which helped him identify gaps in his own work.
