Media and the Environmental Impact Assessment process in Africa: A Synopsis
The environmental impact assessment (EIA) process has been in use for over 40 years and its effect is felt globally. EIA results have been mixed, a shortcoming, which several studies attribute to institutional, legal and technical problems. Doubtless, much is being done to address these challenges, but the EIA process still needs enhancement and one significant way to help enrich the process is to increase the use of the media (Kakonge 2006). Currently, media interest in the notion and practice of EIA is limited; media outlets mainly cover meetings or publicize information received from the authorities, pressure groups, civil societies and project proponents.
Ideally, however, the media should actually participate in the EIA process as a stakeholder. For example, since any major project in a country will benefit media houses and their staff, the media should themselves be interested in reporting on the project during both its discussion and implementation stages. In Africa, however, both large and small media companies are unwilling to cover anything to do with the environment for fear of losing money. Opinions among environmentalists differ but some consider that environmental issues should be reoriented or repackaged to make them more interesting, and even marketable, especially if they relate to environmentally sensitive and innovative projects.
At present, very few reporters or editors have much of a background in environmental issues, and by extension EIA, especially in Africa. This makes them reluctant to write or cover articles on the environment or EIA processes. Experts commenting on this issue routinely mention that the media should be involved in the EIA process but overlook the fact that the reporters and journalists covering environmental issues often lack any real experience with the issue.
That said, in Africa, some progress is being made with the assistance of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to train environmental journalists, through the establishment of the African Network of Environmental Journalists (ANEJ). This network now covers the entire African continent but its impact is limited. However, a good start should be consolidated and expanded. A possible way forward would be for some of the funds earmarked for environmental projects by development partners, bilateral donors, major non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and foundations for public awareness of the environment to be assigned to the training of journalists and government information officers.
For example, in Bulgaria, the Government is working closely with the country’s media sector to build its environmental reporting capacity through regular press conferences and large public awareness campaigns (UNEP, 2009). Similarly, Lei Yang (2008) describes how, during the 1990s, the Government of China encouraged the media to play an indispensable environmental watchdog role in supervising wrongdoers and communicating with the public. He concedes that, those efforts notwithstanding, environmental reporting has been inconsistent and unsystematic and that reporters need to work closely with major environmental stakeholders such as scientists, academia, NGOs and others to expand their source of reliable information (Yang, 2008). In the same vein, in his speech on the fiftieth anniversary of the Nation Media Group in Kenya in 2010, the Aga Khan acknowledged that, “journalists must increasingly understand the substantive, sophisticated dimensions of the fields on which they report – from medical and environmental sciences, to economic and financial disciplines, to legal and constitutional matters”.
Given that print and television media in Africa give less coverage to environmental stories, one idea worth exploring might be the creation of a television channel or channels on the lines of Animal Planet, the Discovery Channel or National Geographic, dedicated to African environmental issues. True, the international news channels such as CNN, Al Jazeera and BBC regularly show programmes on environmental issues but to cover all aspects of the environment across the African continent would require a variety of programmes and a great deal of innovation. Achieving that would be a challenge. Even in countries where environmental groups have been active since the mid-1980s, such as India, environmental coverage remains mixed. Vasanti (2009), for example, observes that coverage of the environment in the Indian media has increased in terms both of the scope and number of stories, with newspapers occasionally running these stories on the front pages or giving them more prominence in inside pages. Furthermore, some Indian magazines, such as Down to Earth, have also been presenting thought-provoking articles and reviews on the environment.
In Africa the cheapest mass medium, radio, is available virtually everywhere and is especially valuable in that it commonly broadcasts in the local languages, but it has its own limitations. Stations looking for a cheap source of entertainment are likely to carry pop music programmes round the clock, while serious programming entails heavier costs in terms of time, effort and money – and risks alienating the audience. Today, the most effective media outlet, especially for urban and peri-urban dwellers in Africa, is television – provided electricity is available, of course. Television, however, like the other media as they are currently served up to the African public, operates predominantly as a commercial enterprise designed to entertain. It is therefore no surprise that, despite sporadic efforts across the continent, the quality and quantity of coverage of the environment still depend to a great degree on the personal interest and commitment of journalists, editors and owners.
All the above considerations notwithstanding, the media still has great power to influence people's opinions. Indisputable examples from Africa demonstrate that both local and international media can play a tangible role in preserving the environment. The Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) is a case in point. Various groups, particularly international NGOs, brought a measure of transparency to the project’s EIA process principally by exposing its shortfalls. They used the press to pose questions to major investors such as the World Bank, bilateral donors, commercial and investment banks, and construction companies on issues relating to the tendering processes and to the compensation and resettlement of the people affected by the dam's construction (Winbourne, 2002). Print media such as the Press International Advisory Network published several articles in 2002 on the Canadian company that bribed the chief executive officer of LHWP and was subsequently prosecuted, found guilty and fined (Winbourne, 2002). Without the partnership between the NGOs, pressure groups and the media, the corruption surrounding LHWP would have gone unnoticed.
Another example is the media coverage of events in the Niger Delta in Nigeria that drew the attention of the world to the magnitude of the injustice and oppression in the area (Nwagbara, 2010). This, in turn, resulted in international condemnation of the military government of Sunni Abacha, especially regarding the unjust execution of the Nigerian eco-activist and writer, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and the eight other victims of Abacha’s brutal reprisals (the “Ogoni eight”). In addition, after the resistance movement of the Niger Delta (MEND) accepted an amnesty, the people of the region placed all their trust in the media to sensitize the Government of Nigeria to the underdevelopment of the area and the environmental degradation caused by the extraction of oil.
The media should play a role not only in illuminating the EIA process but also in raising awareness about the environment in general( Kakonge,2006). For instance, once an EIA process is completed, the ensuing management plan is rarely given full implementation. The media should help generate public debate on the progress made in implementing EIA recommendations. As things stand now, once a project's proponents have received approval from the authorities to go ahead, there is a risk that no one knows or cares what follows – unless something goes seriously wrong.
Clearly, the media alone cannot do much to ensure that the EIA process is effective in Africa or that the environmental issues relating to major projects are addressed. But a close partnership with NGOs, civil society and the affected communities could ensure that the proponents of a project are held to their commitment to implement the recommendations of its EIA. Accordingly, why should media outlets not dedicate a column to environmental issues, including approved EIA projects? The story does not need to appear on the front page of the paper (a common excuse for not carrying or covering an environmental issue), it can be somewhere inside the paper. Undoubtedly, media houses, development partners, foundations and international NGOs should enhance the capacities and capabilities of reporters and journalists in the area of environmental management, including EIA. Strengthened and unbiased media in Africa could play a double role: as overseers and as creators of awareness of the EIA process and related environmental issues.
Dr. John.O.Kakonge is a Special Adviser to South-South News, New York, U.S.A.
His Highness the Aga Khan, Speech by His Highness the Aga Khan at the Conference Marking the 50th Anniversary of the Nation Media Group: "Media and the African Promise”, 18 March 2010. Available from http://www.akdn.org/Content/980.
Kakonge, J.O (2006).Environmental Planning in Sub-Saharan Africa: Environmental Impact Assessment Assessment at the Crossroads. Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Working Paper No. 9
Nwagbara, U. (2010). “The Nigerian Press, the Public Sphere and Sustainable Development: Engaging the Post-amnesty Deal in the Niger Delta”, Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa, vol. 12, No. 3. Available from http://www.jsd-africa.com/Jsda/V12No3_Summer2010_A/PDF/The%20nigerian%20Press,%20The%20Public%20Sphere,%20and%20Sustainable%20Development%20(Nwagbara).pdf.
UNEP (2009.). Guideline 44: Public Environmental Awareness and Education, Manual on Compliance with and Enforcement of Multilateral Environmental Agreements. Available from http://www.unep.org/dec/onlinemanual/Enforcement/InstitutionalFrameworks/PublicAwarenessEducation/tabid/99/Default.aspx. Accessed 28 April 2012.
Vasanti, P.N. (2009). “Media Has to Sustain Its Environment Coverage”, 26 November 2009. Available from http://www.livemint.com/2009/11/26230335/Media-has-to-sustain-its-envir.html.
Winbourne, S. (2002). Corruption and the Environment. Available from http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/democracy_and_governance/publications/ac/sector/environment.doc. Accessed 23 April 2012.
Yang, L. (2008). The Role and Ability of the Media to Promote Environmental Awareness; Perspectives from China. Presentation at the 4th Asia-Europe Editor’s Roundtable, 22-23 October, Beijing. Available from http://english.cri.cn/2946/2008/10/24/53s417625.htm. Accessed 26 April 2012.
