As the world celebrates World Radio Day today, the National Press Club, in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), is marking the occasion with an event themed “Radio and Climate Change.” This event highlights radio’s enduring role as a trusted medium for delivering fact-based information for over a century.
A key focus will be The GreenBook, an online planning tool offering scientific insights into how climate change and urbanization impact South African cities and towns.
Willemien Van Niekerk, Principal Researcher at the CSIR, emphasized why radio remains a powerful tool for communicating climate change issues: “I think it is significant because of the enduring power of radio, its more than a century. It has been a trusted medium of communication. I think it is because it is accessible, you can listen to your radio anywhere, in the car, in a remote area wherever you are you can listen to your radio. It is also an easy way to provide real-time information.”
She further highlighted radio’s ability to bring together diverse perspectives: “I think also because you hear a lot of voices so a lot of messages that is diverse, you get somebody from a scientist speaking about climate change projections and what that means and then you also get people from the community talking about how at a local level they adapt to the impacts of climate change. That is why I think radio is very powerful.”
Listen to the full interview below:
VOC News
Photo: Pixabay
