5Cs Engages Caribbean Journalists on Climate Change Forum in Belize 

The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) has again partnered with the Caribbean Broadcasting Union, which is holding its 55^th Annual General Assembly (AGA) and 35th CBU Caribbean Media Awards in Placencia, Belize. CCCCC is the sponsor of seven climate change categories in the media awards. This marks the second consecutive year of the CCCCC’s sponsorship in these categories.

The CCCCC, with funding from the EU-GCCA+ Project, is today hosting a media forum on climate change as the culmination of an impactful media engagement program that began in 2023. This forum coincides with the Caribbean Broadcasting Union’s (CBU) annual general assembly and awards ceremony, where the CCCCC will present awards for excellence in climate change coverage.

The forum aims to enhance knowledge of climate change impacts in the Caribbean, increase media interest and capacity for better climate change reporting, and present preliminary findings from a content analysis of entries in the 2022 and 2023 CCCCC-CBU climate change media awards.

The CCCCC brought together 13 journalists for the forum.

The workshop began with welcome remarks by Dr. Claire Grant, President of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU), followed by introductions and an icebreaker led by Tecla Fontenard. Dr. Colin Young, Executive Director of CCCCC, presented on current climate change facts and essential knowledge, which was followed by a plenary session for questions and discussions. After a brief break, the workshop resumed with a presentation and discussion on strengthening media coverage of climate change, delivered by Dr. Cleveland Sam, Director of Communications at The Nature Conservancy (TNC). This was followed by a presentation on covering climate change by Tecla Fontenard, Communications Specialist at CCCCC.

After lunch, the workshop continued with a content analysis of excellence in climate coverage, examining notable entries from the 2022 and 2023 CCCCC/CBU Climate Change themed media awards. This session, led by Steve Maximay, a member of the CBU CMA Judging Panel, included examples of award-winning content, lessons learnt, and best practices for media coverage. The day concluded with plenary discussions on the content presentation and closing remarks by Danelle De Coteau-Campbell, Lead Communications Specialist at CCCCC.