Education
RDI, NIJ enlighten journalism students on effective environment, climate reporting – EnviroNews
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The Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI), in partnership with the Nigeria Institute of Journalism (NIJ), has organised a three-day foundational training to equip journalism students with the knowledge and skills required for effective reporting of environmental and climate change issues.
The training, held from August 18 to 20, 2026, was designed to build the students’ understanding and confidence in covering environmental and climate-related issues, strengthen their links with climate justice advocates and affected communities, and promote a model of practical environmental journalism training that could eventually be integrated into the curriculum of tertiary institutions across Nigeria.
The initiative will also expose NIJ students to RDI’s network of environmental and climate activists and provide opportunities for field visits to communities experiencing environmental and climate-related challenges across the country.
The inaugural programme combined classroom sessions with practical community engagement, including a field visit to Okun Alfa, a climate-impacted community in the Ibeju-Lekki area of Lagos State.
Resource persons at the training included environmental lawyers, gender specialists, international human rights and development practitioners, communications experts and an NIJ lecturer. The Deputy Clerk and Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Dr. Olaosebikan Olajuwon, was also among the facilitators.
NIJ: Practical Experience Critical to Climate Journalism
In his welcome address, NIJ Provost, Mr. Gbenga Adefaye, said the partnership with RDI was aimed at addressing a major gap in Nigeria’s education system, particularly the limited opportunities for students to interact directly with real-life environmental challenges and frontline communities.
According to him, virtually every part of Nigeria, from the north to the south, is confronted with one environmental or climate-related challenge or another.
He cited the drying up of Lake Chad and the southward advance of the Sahara as major challenges affecting communities in northern and middle-belt Nigeria, noting that environmental pressures had contributed to tensions, including farmer-herder conflicts.
Adefaye urged the students to take advantage of the opportunity to combine classroom knowledge with field experience, stressing that many practising journalists did not have such opportunities during their training.
Environment as the Foundation of Life
The first presentation, titled The Environment, Our Life, was delivered by RDI Executive Director, Philip Jakpor.
Jakpor defined the environment in simple terms as everything surrounding human beings that collectively provides shelter, food, water and good health, thereby sustaining life.
He argued that humanity had failed to act as a responsible steward of the environment, pointing to an industrialisation model heavily dependent on fossil fuels as a major driver of pollution.
He cited the discharge of sludge into rivers and streams, vehicular emissions, deforestation, the proliferation of single-use plastics and indiscriminate waste disposal among the activities damaging the environment.
At the global level, Jakpor highlighted rising temperatures, melting glaciers, sea-level rise, typhoons, wildfires and desertification as some of the consequences of environmental degradation and climate change.
He urged aspiring environmental journalists to take advantage of training opportunities to deepen their knowledge and improve their ability to inform the public.
According to him, well-researched and in-depth environmental journalism can encourage tree planting, responsible waste management, reduced plastic consumption, lower energy use and stronger enforcement against environmental offenders.
Journalists Have a Critical Role in Climate Communication
Development expert, Sam Orovwuje, in his presentation, Climate Change and the Environment: The Role of Journalists in Reporting the Defining Story of Our Generation, introduced the students to the fundamental concepts of climate change and environmental degradation.
He examined the causes and impacts of climate change globally and in Nigeria, including recurrent flooding in states such as Kogi, Bayelsa and Lagos, desertification in northern Nigeria and increasing heat stress in urban areas.
Orovwuje stressed the importance of ethical, accurate and solution-oriented climate reporting, while encouraging the students to explore the growing opportunities for professional careers in climate journalism.
Extractive Activities Go Beyond Oil and Gas
Barrister Chima Williams of the Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN), while speaking on Extractive Governance, broadened the students’ understanding of extraction.
He explained that extractive activities extend beyond oil, gas and solid minerals to include practices such as sand mining, which can deprive communities of land and increase their vulnerability to erosion.
Desertification: An Under-Reported Crisis
Faith Nwadishi, Executive Director of the Centre for Transparency Advocacy, described desertification as an important but under-reported area of environmental journalism.
Speaking on Desertification, Nwadishi noted that many journalists enter the profession with limited understanding of the science, politics and human consequences associated with complex environmental issues. This, she said, could result in shallow or inaccurate reporting that fails to advance public understanding or solutions.
She explained that desertification intersects with food security, migration, farmer-herder conflicts, gender inequality and public finance, making it a significant subject for investigative and solutions-oriented journalism.
Nwadishi defined desertification, in line with the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), as land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from climatic variations and human activities.
She also differentiated between drought, land degradation, desertification and coastal erosion, noting that drought is a temporary shortage of rainfall that can contribute to desertification but should not be used interchangeably with it.
According to her, 11 northern states are experiencing desertification, while about 43 per cent of Nigeria’s landmass is affected, with an estimated 350,000 hectares lost annually and about 40 million livelihoods at risk.
Deforestation and the Loss of Forest Resources
Anthony Oligbo, a lecturer at the NIJ, focused on Deforestation, which he described as the conversion of forest land to other uses.
He said large-scale forest destruction, driven largely by activities such as agriculture, logging, construction, mining and urban expansion, results in the loss of forest resources, wildlife habitats, biodiversity and ecological balance.
Waste Management and Methane Emissions
Anthony Akpan, President of the Pan Africa Vision for the Environment (PAVE), addressed The Waste Challenge, examining organic waste, its sources, household waste generation, methane emissions and the management of landfills in Nigeria and Lagos.
Akpan argued that greater emphasis should be placed on waste reduction and reuse rather than relying heavily on recycling, particularly because recycling processes can require significant energy and may generate harmful emissions and chemicals.
On methane emissions from Lagos dumpsites, he advocated improved waste management practices, including the conversion of suitable organic waste into compost for soil enrichment and food production.
He also questioned the practice of mixing different categories of waste and called for waste separation at household level through the use of different bins.
Women Face Disproportionate Environmental Impacts
Mfreke Asigbe, Executive Director of Cypress Global Health, examined Environmental Impacts on Women, highlighting the ways climate change, extreme weather events and environmental degradation affect the health, safety and dignity of women and girls.
She noted that women often bear responsibility for caring for children, sick people and older persons, responsibilities that become more demanding during disasters.
Asigbe also pointed to the specific challenges faced by women during pregnancy, childbirth and menstruation when heatwaves, flooding, displacement and disruptions to healthcare services occur.
She urged journalists to pay greater attention to the gender dimensions of climate and environmental stories.
From Stockholm to the Paris Agreement
Rachel Greenwood, a US-based human rights and international development professional with extensive experience in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, introduced the students to International Treaties and Agreements on Climate Change.
She traced the evolution of global environmental governance from the 1972 Stockholm Conference through the 1992 Rio Declaration and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the Paris Agreement.
Greenwood encouraged the students to follow international climate negotiations but to place greater emphasis on assessing Nigeria’s implementation of its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which provide a key benchmark for measuring the country’s climate commitments.
Understanding Environmental Laws and Digital Platforms
Dr. Olaosebikan Olajuwon, Deputy Clerk and Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State House of Assembly, engaged the students on Environmental Laws in Lagos, exposing them to the legal and regulatory dimensions of environmental protection in the state.
Communications Consultant Paul Ashibel, in his session on Digital Platforms for Reporting Climate Change/The Environment, encouraged the students to take advantage of digital platforms to expand the reach and impact of their environmental stories.
He identified platforms including Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok as potential channels for distributing environmental reports, videos and other multimedia content.
The three-day programme ultimately emphasised the need for journalism students to move beyond theoretical understanding and engage directly with communities, experts, data, laws and lived experiences in order to produce accurate, impactful and solutions-oriented environmental and climate stories.
Through the partnership, RDI and NIJ aim to strengthen the next generation of Nigerian journalists and promote environmental and climate reporting as an essential component of journalism education and public-interest journalism.