In 2007 RREC jointly with British embassy organized a training for journalists on climate change issues in mountain regions at the example of Elbrus. The project outcomes proved that chosen format of training could be successfully applied for raising journalists’ awareness and improve their skills in development of climate change publications.
The project attracted attention of Russian mass-media, non-governmental and international environmental organizations and raised interest of potential donors to continue the training.
In 2008 RREC initiated the 2-d media-training for Russian journalists from regional media in the Republic of Altai. The idea of project was supported by Boll Foundation and REEEP. Media-training on climate change and sustainable energy in Mountain regions was held on 21st-26th July 2008 in the Republic of Altai.
During 6 days the participants visited Barnaul, Gorno-Altaisk, Ongudai, Kurai and Chemal and traveled for more than 1500 km. 11 journalists-participants from Yekaterinburg, Omsk, Novokuznetsk, Barnaul, Gorno-Altaisk, Yakutsk, Krasnoyarsk and Vladivostok were selected through the contest.
According to the project requirements, the journalists should be from Asian part of Russia and write about environmental problems: quality of previously published media pieces was one of the selection criteria.
Training included: presentation made by experts, excursions to glaciers of Ak-Tru for witnessing demise of glacier ice on mountain peaks, visits to demonstration sites with energy efficiency technologies and renewable energy applications, meetings and interviews with regional stakeholders, training sessions for providing journalists with skills and techniques on improving the quality of media-materials on climate change and sustainable energy.
At the end of the training, the journalists developed and published at least two media materials on climate change and sustainable energy. The final materials demonstrated deeper understanding of the issues in comparison to pre-training publications and addressed innovative approaches on representing the issues based on information and recommendations received during the training.
