SABC, government hold workshop on COP17

South Africa will be hosting the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 17th Conference of Parties (COP17) and the seventh Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP7), 28 November - 9 December 2011. As part of the build-up, the SABC and government officials held a public broadcasting and climate change workshop at the SABC on 20 October.

Dina Pule, deputy minister in the presidency of South Africa: performance, monitoring, evaluation, administration and SABC acting group CEO Phil Molefe led the workshop, which targeted the broadcaster's content producers, commissioning editors, on-air personalities and production houses. The goal was to inform and educate them on the key issues and messages that government would like highlighted to the public, around the growing phenomenon of the climate change globally.

Pule said, "We have to mobilise our people around COP 17, so they can understand what it is all about, so they can participate and not be spectators. We must inform them and create awareness behind the gathering to ensure they participate properly."

As the country's only public service broadcaster, the workshop was critical to assist it in its duty to inform and educate the public on matters of importance. Through this role, it will help citizens to internalize and better understand the impact of climate change and provide solutions on how they can adapt and mitigate the negative effects of climate change.

Molefe said, "It is important to simplify climate change messages, in our quest to inform, educate and entertain our audiences. Our content will focus on how climate change affects the ordinary citizen. We will also focus on the importance of the 'Green Economy', which has benefits in terms of job creation and sustainability."