The team includes Bernadette Carreon, senior reporter of the Palau Horizon, and Mata’afa Keni Lesa editor of the Samoa Observer. Palau Horizon is a sister publication of the Marianas Variety.
“The Pacific Voyage” is the campaign to promote the Pacific Voice to the thousands of participants attending the biggest international biodiversity conference from Oct. 18 to 29.
Side events and exhibitions will be staged by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program, or SPREP, and Pacific members as part of the communications campaign to promote the biodiversity efforts in our region.
“We look forward to working with both Bernadette Carreon and Mata’afa Keni Lesa to provide media coverage on this very important conference,” said Nanette Woonton SPREP’s media and public relations officer.
“We have a big challenge ahead of us, to ensure that our Pacific region is kept well informed as to the happenings at this meeting. I am confident we have an exceptional team to report on decisions made and the events that happen at the CBD COP 10,” Woonton added.
Both reporters will also attend a two-day media training coordinated by the CBD Secretariat which will help provide them with insight as to the issues at this conference. It is also planned that experiences learned at the CBD COP 10 be shared nationally with their fellow media colleagues upon return.
This project to enable reporters to attend the CBD COP 10 to provide daily news reports and help build capacity is supported by UNESCO and the CBD Secretariat. UNESCO is also providing further support to work in partnership with SPREP to ensure national media training can take place in the home countries of the two reporters to share experiences and lessons learnt.
It is planned that daily news bulletins will be provided for the region, as well as updated news and photographs on the “Bionesian — Pacific biodiversity” blogsite and on the SPREP website, www.sprep.org.
