23 Apr 2008

Journalists can play a part in helping deal with climate change says correspondent

10:21 am on 23 April 2008

A climate change correspondent says journalists can play a big part in helping deal with climate change.

The inter-governmental panel on climate change projects the sea level rise to be somewhere between 28 and 56 centimetres by the end of the century.

Former BBC climate change correspondent and freelance journalist, Alex Kirby says there are simple things Pacific nations can do like getting crops that can withstand drought and harvesting rain water.

But he says he still comes across climate change skeptics, and journalists in the Pacific can help to change the world-view on climate change.

"You don't need to spend very long in the Pacific before you find people who say, we are experiencing climate change now, we know it's serious and we may have to migrate if things go on as they are. If I were a journalist working in the Pacific I would be wanting to tell that story as clearly, as vividly as graphically and as often as I could. I think it needs to be told for all our sakes."

Former BBC climate change correspondent, Alex Kirby.