H.E. Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security (To be Represented) ably represented by Dr Philip Kortei

Dr. Richard Muyungi, African Group of Negotiators (AGN) on Climate Change

Mr. Pascal Delisle, head of Political, Press and Information Section at the EU Delegation to the AU

Comrade Anthony Bellanger, General Secretary, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) 

Ms. Rebecca Minkus, Representative of GIZ and the Embassy of Germany

Ms. Elise Nalbandian, Head, Oxfam AU Liaison Office

Excellencies, colleagues and friends,

On behalf of the Federation of African Journalists, thank you for joining us. We are proud to co-convene this pre-forum of the second African Climate Summit with the African Union Commission’s Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security and we salute H.E. Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, for championing this agenda. We also thank Oxfam and GIZ for practical and generous support that helps us turn purpose into action.

This gathering brings together journalists, policymakers and civil society. It is cooperation and complementarity in practice which is how our continent should work when facing shared risks and shared responsibilities.

Our meeting sits within a wider continental effort that recognises the link between climate impacts and security challenges. The African Union and the Peace and Security Council have affirmed the climate – peace - security nexus and the AU is shaping a Common African Position to guide action. As a pre-forum to the Second Africa Climate Summit in Addis Ababa we are here to ensure journalism is part of this effort from the outset so policy and public understanding move together.

Journalism is essential to climate security. When journalists have access to data and can work safely, they translate complex science into clear public information, turn early warning into early action, and scrutinise decisions that affect people’s lives. Responsible reporting calms tensions, counters disinformation, gives voice to those most exposed to climate shocks and helps authorities plan before risks become crises. Strong journalism strengthens the peace and security agenda. 

The need is clear. Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, desertification and floods are driving food insecurity, loss of livelihoods and displacement. These pressures interact with existing conflicts and weak institutions which strains governance and heightens risk. In fragile settings climate shocks can fuel competition over land and water, trigger movement within and across borders and unsettle already stressed local economies. If early warning, mediation and recovery do not account for these realities we will miss chances to prevent violence. Trusted information helps authorities act before shocks become crises and helps the public navigate hard choices without fear.

What we build here will feed directly into the Second Africa Climate Summit. The standards we set, the partnerships we forge and the stories we commit to telling will strengthen Africa’s voice at Addis Ababa and shape work that follows.

This brings me to FAJ’s specific approach to a just transition. We link just transition directly to journalistic work. Building on our Abidjan Declaration and Action Plan we are organising journalists to explain what a fair shift to low-carbon, climate-resilient economies means for workers, women, young people and rural communities, to test policies against jobs and rights, and to follow the money from pledges to delivery so no one is left behind. A just transition must be a whole-of-economy and whole-of-society effort and journalism has a clear role in making that real.

With PAPS we will keep strengthening newsroom standards, access to data and safety so journalists can tell evidence-based stories that reduce tensions and support people-centred choices. Our thanks to GIZ and Oxfam whose support helps us train, network and equip journalists to cover just transition with accuracy, context and care.

From that foundation FAJ prioritises public interest journalism in everything we do. People need clear, timely and accurate information to make sound choices and to hold power to account. This means building the capacity of journalists to work in fragile contexts, improving access to reliable climate and crisis data and protecting information integrity so disinformation and hate speech do not inflame tensions. When journalism is strong communities are better prepared, decision-makers are more accountable and peacebuilding stands a better chance.

Finance is the fairness test that runs through all of this. Too little climate funding reaches places where climate risks and fragility collide. Journalists have a duty to track the full chain from pledges to projects to results and to explain losses that statistics often ignore but families live with every day. Climate finance is not charity, it is justice and the public deserves clear answers.

Our forum is therefore practical by design. It will connect newsrooms with policymakers and civil society, give journalists the knowledge, networks and tools they need, and advance reporting that supports just transition, peacebuilding and climate justice. We will examine investigative methods for following climate finance, strengthen approaches that protect information integrity and highlight grounded stories that keep people at the centre of decisions.

To our colleagues at PAPS and to Ambassador Bankole, thank you for your outstanding leadership. To our friends at Oxfam and GIZ, thank you for standing with the journalists’ fraternity of this continent whose leaders are not spectators of the climate summit but active contributors.

We are very grateful to our IFJ General Secretary, Comrade Anthony Bellanger, for taking the time to join us in solidarity. Our work here forms part of the global efforts the IFJ is leading to advance the demand for a just transition. 

To my fellow journalists, your reporting can calm fears, cut through noise and open space for fair decisions. That is how we move from climate anxiety to climate justice and from risk to resilience.

Thank you.

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