Climate Change: Don wants journalists to shift from reactive to early warning reporting
Climate Change: Don wants journalists to shift from reactive to early warning reporting
A Geography expert at Bayero University Kano (BUK), Dr Suleiman Yunus, has urged journalists to leverage Earth Observation technology to shift from reactive disaster reporting.
According to Yunus, embracing the tool will make journalists become proactive in early warning communication capable of saving lives and reducing property losses.
He made the call while presenting a paper at a training on Earth Observation Satellite Tool organised by BUK in collaboration with the European Space Agency and Future Earth, on Monday.
Voice Media Trust (VMT NEWS) reports that Earth Observation is a satellite tool designed to achieve effective climate change and disaster risks reporting.
Earth Observation (EO) utilises a network of spaceborne sensors to gather precise, real-time data about our planet’s physical, chemical, and biological systems.
For continuous monitoring, its high-resolution satellites track atmospheric changes, ocean temperatures, and soil moisture levels.
It has predictive attributes by analysing multi-year patterns with which researchers and journalists can map emerging flood threats, drought cycles, and wildfire risks before they escalate.
Yunus described EO as one of the world’s leading technologies, saying its rapid advancement had transformed virtually every sector, including journalism.
According to him, journalists have a critical role to play in communicating disaster risks and providing timely early warning information to vulnerable communities before disasters strike.
“Earth observation technology has brought significant transformation across different disciplines, including journalism.
“It provides journalists with the opportunity to communicate disaster risks and early warning information to the public,” he said.
Yunus noted that disaster reporting in Nigeria had largely remained reactive, with journalists often covering incidents only after lives and property had been lost.
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He, however, said the availability of satellite-based earth observation data now offered journalists the opportunity to anticipate potential disasters and alert the public ahead of time.
“The current pattern of disaster reporting is mostly reactive, where journalists visit disaster scenes to report the magnitude of destruction.
“We must now embrace a proactive approach by using earth observation technology to understand the likelihood of disasters before they occur and communicate the risks to the people,” he said.
The don explained that timely dissemination of early warning information would enable communities, emergency responders, and government agencies to take preventive measures, thereby reducing the devastating impact of disasters.
He stressed that integrating earth observation into journalism would strengthen disaster risk communication, improve public awareness, and contribute to building more resilient communities.
VMT NEWS reports that the training brought together academics, journalists, and other stakeholders to explore the application of earth observation technologies in disaster risk reduction, environmental monitoring, and sustainable development.
