Kathmandu, May 1
The Himalayan Climate Boot Camp, an expedition initiated by science and environment journalists from Nepal, India and Bangladesh to the Everest region to study tough and underreported terrains -- thought to be the first ever expedition of its kind -- has concluded.
The Camp, which was organized by the Nepal Forum of Science Journalists (NFSJ) and funded by the Spark Grant Initiative of the World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ), was held from April 21-26 and ended with a debriefing session at the UNESCO office in Kathmandu on the 27th.
In the closing event, journalists from three countries in the Koshi river basin – Bangladesh, India and Nepal – and mentors shared their experiences and observations from the boot camp.
A total of 18 participants which included eight journalists, three mentors, four members of the project team, a representative from UNESCO, an Austrian guest journalist and a student observer, shared their views on many facets of climate change and its impacts on lives and livelihoods of people in the region.
Chief Editor of Nature India and one of the mentors of HCBC Subhra Priyadarshini shared that "Taking journalists to the Everest region and allowing them this first-hand experience of the effects of climate change in itself is a huge achievement of this unique project."
Chhatra Karki, team leader of the project, said that this event would help build a solid network of South Asian science and environment journalists and lay foundation for exchange programmes.
Similarly, Fellow visual journalist Zakir Hussain Chaudhury from Bangladesh said, "It was eye-opening to see the growing impact of climate change in the region."
"The bootcamp has been an exciting journey to navigate deeper into the underreported dimensions of climate change and environment," said Arathi Menon, one of the journalist fellows from India.
HCBC mentor Dr Sudeep Thakuri, a climate scientist and Dean of Mid-Western University in Surkhet, Nepal, said the boot camp was the first such event he had attended. "Although I have presented several research papers in conferences on the climate change in the high mountains, this is a unique initiative to bridge climate science and science journalism.''
Michael Croft, UNESCO's Head of Office and Representative to Nepal said UNESCO looks forward to working with the various journalist associations in the South Asian region on common agendas of science, education and culture.
The boot camp was an opportunity to interact with local policymakers, conservation officers, environmental managers, security personnel, Sherpa porters, women agricultural workers and entrepreneurs, school teachers and students as well as trekking guides working in the Lukla, Monju, Phakding, Khumbu, Khumjung and Namche areas of the Himalayan region, and understand the socio-cultural, economic and political dimensions of climate change.
Under the close supervision of the three mentors, journalist fellows will now work on story ideas that they finalized during the boot camp.
The project team firmly believes that the climate stories from the HCBC will not only add to the body of science journalism in the region but also bring in new perspective to the climate issues experienced by the journalists.
