Climate Change

Reporting team will cover COP25 with Latin American accent

November 2019

Programs

Nine freelance media professionals from Latin America have been awarded a fellowship to attend and report from COP25 in Madrid, Spain this December.

Seven journalists, as well as a photographer and a graphic designer, have been selected toparticipate in the COP25 Reporting Fellowship for Latin American Climate Journalists. The fellows will travel from seven Latin American countries to Madrid, Spain to cover the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 25th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP25) taking place from December 2-13, 2019. The initiative is a joint effort of LatinClima, Periodistas por el Planeta (PxP), the Stanley Center, and the Red Regional de Cambio Climático y Toma de Decisiones.

In late October, the government of Spain stepped forward to host COP25 in Madrid after intensifying protests in Santiago led Chile to pull out as host.

“While the conference location has shifted to Madrid, Chile continues to hold the Presidency of the climate talks, which makes it all the more important for Latin American journalists to be there to bring news back home to audiences across the region,” said Devon Terrill, program officer for journalism and media at the Stanley Center.

A distinctive feature of the fellowship is its focus on cross-team collaboration to deliver comprehensive coverage of the climate negotiations geared to Latin American audiences. The fellows will form an independent Spanish-language news agency, reporting news and developments at the conference that will be shared with 15 partner media outlets across Latin America, in coordination with LatinClima and PxP. Affiliated partners will be free to republish the content across their online and traditional platforms at no cost. In addition, published reporting will be shared with other communication networks in the region.

“This fellowship seeks to ensure that COP25 has different coverage than that seen so far, with the objective of generating content in a language accessible to Latin American society, without losing journalistic rigor,” explained Pilar Assefh of PxP.

“As the agency’s objective is to provide high-quality content focused on Latin America, the selection of the fellows was made by invitation, based on their strong record of experience covering climate news and negotiations. In addition, the fellows have participated in courses and trainings held by the four organizations, or are active members of the LatinClima community,” said Katiana Murillo, LatinClima´s coordinator.

The year 2020 marks a key turning point in which global greenhouse gas emissions must peak, adding more urgency to this year’s climate negotiations.

“COP25 is the last moment in 2019 for actors at all levels to accelerate climate action to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. This fellowship will ensure that Latin American journalists will be able to track the latest developments as they unfold in Madrid,” said Terrill.

Two journalists were selected from Mesoamerica, two from the Amazon region, and three from the Southern Cone. The photographer and graphic designer are from Costa Rica. The fellows, with their respective Twitter accounts, are:

Olga Cajina – Graphic Designer (Costa Rica) – @okajina
Nina Cordero – Photographer (Costa Rica) – @NinaCorderoFoto
Martín De Ambrosio (Argentina) – @mdeambrosio
Eduardo Franco (Bolivia) – @Edufrancoberton
Emilio Godoy (México) – @periodistagodoy
Margaret López (Venezuela) – @Jamsg
Fabíola Ortiz (Brazil) – @FabiolaOrtizRio
Francisco Parra (Chile) – @frparrag
Michelle Soto (Costa Rica) – @michellesoto80

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