Farm Radio Broadcast Partner Wins UNEP Young Environmental Journalist Award

Ugochi Atrophy with UNEP Award

To mark International Women’s Day, this week’s issue of Farm Radio Weekly, features stories of four remarkable women. Featured in this International Women’s Day blog, is the story about Farm Radio International broadcast partner, Ugochi Anyaka, who went to the town of Mpape, just outside Abuja, Nigeria, to research what would become her award-winning story. There, she met with John, the originator of a unique method of manufacturing briquettes.

As Ms. Anyaka explains in her audio report, Saving the Trees for Paper Briquettes, John is the brains behind a project that uses waste paper to manufacture briquettes. The briquettes are an alternative fuel to traditional firewood. In the report, John explains, “Briquettes are made of paper which you soak into water for two hours, and you press it into the briquette maker and it comes out in the form of bread and you start using it like charcoal.”

Ms. Anyaka’s story won first prize in the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Young Environmental Journalist Award. The 29-year-old says the award is “the greatest moment of joy” in her career. Indeed, Ms. Anyaka’s report beat out more than 120 entries from journalists all across Africa.

The UNEP award “aims to showcase excellence in the field of environmental reporting and nurture new talent that will help to shape opinion on the environment in Africa, and beyond, in years to come.”

Ms. Anyaka explains that her story “was done to show the opportunities in a changing climate – and not just the woes. It also seeks to show the conflicting viewpoints about the Clean Development Mechanism.” (The Clean Development Mechanism is a tool within the Kyoto Protocol to mobilize additional funding in developing countries for investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency.)

Ms. Anyaka, a self-proclaimed eco-journalist, can be heard on Aso Radio’s airwaves every Thursday at 9 a.m. as the host of Green Angle, a show that delves into environmental and climate change issues.

To listen to Ms. Anyaka’s award-winning story, click here.

To learn more about Ms. Anyaka and her eco-journalism, you can read her blog, Eco Nigeria, or follow her on twitter: @UgochiAnyaka.

To read the UNEP press release about the Young Environmental Journalist Award, click here.

(Source : Farm Radio International Blog)