El mahjoub Dasaa
In a world facing the challenges of climate change in all its dimensions, it has become necessary to rely on the media in the areas of sensitization and raising community awareness, and monitoring the public policies set by countries in this field, which confirms that the involvement of journalists and even building their skills in the field of sustainable development and renewable energy, has become An unavoidable choice.
Given that journalism is a purveyor and catalyst for positive change in societies, it is necessary to rely on young journalists in the areas of accelerating renewable energy deployment to achieve climate objectives and advance the sustainable development agenda.
Achieving sustainable development goals, especially those related to accelerating progress on renewable energy deployment, inevitably passes through training young journalists, and building their skills on the techniques and skills of preparing media reports that address these issues, providing them with the necessary knowledge related to renewable energy, and enabling them to understand and comprehend concepts and terms related to renewable energy (jargon).
Many young journalists today lack specialized training in the field of renewable energy, which makes them vulnerable to making mistakes in writing articles, headlines, and producing audio-visual contents, and dealing with information and economic indicators, as well as confusing concepts and terminology, which affects the quality of the media content they present to public opinion.
The work carried out by the International Renewable Energy Agency is very important because it is an interactive platform between the various global stakeholders in the field of sustainable energy. However, the involvement of young journalists is very important, so as young journalists rely on ARENA activities, to train us and build our capacities to be able to produce media and journalistic content. To improve the renewable energy topic young journalists must be in constantly training, and should have more involvement in the dissemination of related news.
In addition, and as it is said, the one who loses something does not give it, journalists cannot contribute to spreading awareness of the sustainable development goals and the importance of renewable energy without having solid knowledge of the field. Therefore, capacity-building programs are an urgent need to deepen journalists’ understanding of increasingly complex economic and social development issues, enabling their work to support public discourse and promote informed policy dialogue on issues relating to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The International Renewable Energy Agency’s (IRENA) fourth IRENA Youth Forum: The New Generation of Decision Makers, that will convene on 13 January 2023 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, could be a platform for discussing media, sustainable development, and various issues related to media training, which I briefly touched upon in my application, hoping to discuss it thoroughly with experts and decision-makers who will participate in the forum, in case of course I am chosen to attend this important forum.
