AWARD FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISTS

[Guest guest]

*http://www.conservation.org/xp/frontlines/people/07260601.xml*

*Award Program Honors Environmental Journalists*

*CI, Partners Help Local Reporters Spread News About Ecological Problems,

Solutions*

John Tidwell, Staff Writer

 

*July 26, 2006:* Journalism has never been an easy profession to break into,

but for Rojo Oceane Randrianantoandro, a single mother of two living in one

of

Madagascar's<http://www.conservation.org/xp/CIWEB/regions/africa/madagascar.xml>\

poorest

regions, it seemed to be an impossible dream. By day, she taught

grammar school in the southwestern port town of Toliara. On weekends, she

wrote news articles in an Internet café, sending them to newspapers in hopes

of landing a reporting job. Persistent and talented, Oceane succeeded, and

by 2004 she was the Toliara correspondent for *Les Nouvelles*, a daily in

the capital city of Antananarivo.

 

Oceane was lucky: her editors welcomed not only story ideas about politics

and local disasters, but her ideas on the environment as well. For many

journalists, especially in the developing world, stories on ecological

issues don't rank high among news priorities.

 

" It's hard for environmental stories to compete with stories about war,

corruption, or disaster, " explains Haroldo Castro, vice president for Global

Awareness <http://www.conservation.org/xp/CIWEB/programs/awareness/> at CI.

" What was really needed was a way to recognize the significance of

environmental stories and the vision of journalists who wrote about them. "

 

Riding through the

Philippines<http://www.conservation.org/xp/CIWEB/regions/asia/philippines.xml>on

a bus in 1996, Castro raised the issue with two colleagues heading to

a

conference of the International Federation of Environmental Journalists

(IFEJ). As they bounced along, the trio came up with an idea: create an

annual competition that honors the year's best published environmental

articles.

 

Three years later, the Biodiversity Reporting Award

(BDRA)<http://www.conservation.org/xp/CIWEB/programs/awareness/media.xml>was

launched through a partnership of CI's Communications Department,

IFEJ,

the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), and later, Spain's

Fundación Biodiversidad.

 

The award is designed to boost public awareness of conservation issues in

poor countries by raising the quality and quantity of local environmental

reporting. In seven years, the BDRA has grown in scope and popularity, with

nine member countries and more than 1,300 articles by some 700 journalists

available at its Web site <http://www.biodiversityreporting.org/>.

 

Backed by its team of respected international partners and judged by

distinguished experts from participating countries, the BDRA prize and its

prestige has spurred journalists and their publications to produce

hard-hitting, scrupulously researched stories about the most critical

environmental issues. After an awards ceremony in their countries, the

first-prize winners are invited to a major environmental or journalism

conference, where they receive their award and meet colleagues from other

nations.

 

Oceane's article for *Les Nouvelles*, exposing the rampant overharvesting of

Madagascar's sea cucumbers by international fleets, won 2005's top BDRA

prize for Malagasy entries, ranking her as one of the 10 best environmental

journalists from among the 212 that competed that year. She also took her

first trip abroad, flying to an international environmental conference in

Sarawak, on the Southeast Asian island of Borneo.

 

For Oceane, mingling with peers from other countries and watching

orang-utans swing through Sarawak's rain forest was a quantum leap for her

personally and professionally. That leap was reinforced when she returned

home and was welcomed by Madagascar's news community. Since then, Oceane has

become recognized as a talented reporter, often seeking out CI's field

communicator – and 2004 BDRA first-prize winner– Hajasoa Raoeliarivelo, and

other conservation groups, for updates on environmental issues.

 

For Castro, this is one success story among many, and the realization of his

vision for the BDRA as a vital conservation tool.

 

" In coming decades, climate

change<http://www.conservation.org/xp/CIWEB/programs/climatechange/>will

impact the Earth more and more, especially in developing countries

like

Madagascar, " he says. " It's imperative for people here to understand that

protecting natural ecosystems also protects their own lives and futures.

When local journalists work with us to spread that message, it brings

success so much closer. "

 

The 2006 BDRA winners will be announced this fall, including submissions

from both print and television journalists.