Lafia — The media has received an invitation from partners in the Building Nigeria Response to Climate Change (BNRCC), to be part of the coordinated efforts and action plans to check the climate-related environmental disasters and the attendant consequences on the people.

The BNRCC project was evolved in 2007 and funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and managed and implemented by a consortium of CUSO-VSO and Marbek Resource Consultants in partnership with the Nigerian Environmental Study/Action Team (NEST).

At an Abuja media forum organized by the partners to bring in, and equip journalists on their role in the project, the partners agreed that any effort put in can never achieve the desired result unless the media is brought in to disseminate useful information for public consumption.

Themed: "Climate Change Awareness for Grassroots Action Policy Integration: A Challenge for the Media", the forum agreed that Nigerians' understanding of climate-related issues including the negative effect of the fast changing climate on lives, is hardly low. The forum therefore charged the media to step up its reportage of the issues in order to create the necessary awareness needed to alert Nigerians and build their positive response to them.

The Chairman, Board of NEST, Prof. David Okali said Nigerians' response to the climate change implies meeting challenges and exploring opportunities arising from it. He therefore said the media must come in to help develop a national frame work or adaptation to have a concerted approach in dealing with the challenges, just as he corroborated the position of the former speaker that the media must build capacity to increase awareness on climate change.

Programme Director of BNRCC, Dr. Emmanuel Nzegbule gave the overview of the project, highlighting its achievements through pilot projects being executed by various partners in different states of the country.

Highlights of the event included interactions, project commissioning and presentation of contract agreement to partners.