COP30: 28 countries after, OCRI discusses translating policies into Action in Africa

Following the completion of the UN’s Conference of Parties (COP 30) in Belem Brazil, OCRI’s Project Manager, Adeolu Adekola joined a panel session to highlight how the media and specifically investigative journalism is crucial to translate climate policies into action in Africa. He leveraged OCRI’s impact having trained journalists in 28 African countries from the north, south, east, west and central to contribute to the session during the 2025 edition of the Media and Development Conference organised by its Anglophone Africa partner The Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).

Speaking during the session titled Beyond COP30: Translating Policies into Action for Climate and Environmental Justice in Africa, Adeolu emphasised that building the capacity of journalists to understand climate change concepts and science as well as equipping them with necessary tools to report, are the first step in towards influencing action. Adeolu charged the audience to interrogate their governments based the recent submission of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the UN in 2025 by asking critical questions on how the plans and policies will translate into action for communities. He highlighted how journalists and the media miss opportunities to set the agenda on climate and environmental justice using the scenario prior to Nigeria’s 2023 elections when the current President during one of his campaign engagement, made a statement on climate finance that became controversial on religious rhetoric rather than staying on the actual issue.

Adeolu also shared OCRI experiences about how journalists reporting on climate change are facing security and safety threats against the back drop of increased authoritarian tendencies of governments globally even within democratic contexts. He stated the continued provision of resources (technical, financial, emotional and legal) for investigative journalists is therefore important to scale the hurdles while working within a collaborative ecosystem by bringing stakeholders together where investigative stories feed into policy action for climate and environmental justice in Africa.

The other panellists during the session were Dr. Gideon Ofosu-Peasah, a Climate and Energy expert, Dr Mike Terungwa, Executive Director, Global Initiative for Food Security and Ecosystem Preservation (GIFSEP) and Felicia Dairo, Project Manager at CJID moderating the conversation. The conference featured more than 300 delegates from about 20 African countries and global partners. Prior to the session, Adeolu also delivered a goodwill message on behalf of the Centre for Investigative Journalism London, speaking on the need to build trust between citizens and institutions, sustain democracy by ensuring continued engagements even to the point of protesting and making sure that the civic space, especially the media, is not stifled.