A new training initiative targeting French-speaking countries in the Indian Ocean is seeking to reshape how environmental and climate change stories are reported, moving beyond reactive coverage towards deeper, more analytical journalism.
The programme, coordinated by the University of Mauritius with support from UNESCO, brings together working journalists from Madagascar, Comoros, Seychelles, Mauritius, and Djibouti. It also includes participants from Rodrigues Island, as well as a small number of journalism students and environmental NGO practitioners.
According to the coordinator of the programme, senior lecturer in media and communication at the University of Mauritius Christina Chan-Meetoo, the training is designed primarily for full-time journalists working across radio, television, print and digital platforms. While the main target are working journalists, the training has also been extended to journalism students. Working journalists who have enrolled to the programme include newsroom leaders such as editors-in-chief, said Chan-Meetoo in an interview with AJENda.
The initiative comes against the backdrop of increasing climate-related disasters in the region, from cyclones in Madagascar to infrastructure-damaging floods in small island territories like Rodrigues. Yet, Chan-Meetoo said, coverage often remains limited in scope.
“What we realise is that journalists are in the grind of everyday work. They tend to report as things develop, without necessarily stepping back to look at the bigger picture,” she said.
This has resulted in reporting that focuses heavily on immediate events, such as storm damage or government responses, while neglecting long-term trends, policy implications and cross-border environmental linkages.
The training aims to address this gap by equipping journalists with both scientific understanding and practical tools to produce more in-depth, solutions-oriented stories.
Science, finance and conservation at the core
The training programme is structured in phases, beginning with foundational knowledge. The first session featured experts explaining the science of climate change and the economic dimensions of environmental crises, including climate financing mechanisms.
Subsequent sessions will expand into real-world conservations about issues relating to the environment and climate change. They will also discuss issues relate to endangered species such as the pink pigeon and rare reptiles.
“This is about showing what is happening on the ground,” Chan-Meetoo said. “Not just theory, but actual conservations about success stories and challenges.”
A key component of the programme is long-term mentorship. Participants will develop story ideas, receive guidance from experts and produce reports for publication in their home media outlets over several months, culminating in October.
Organisers also hope to foster collaboration across national boundaries. For example, journalists from multiple countries could jointly investigate regional issues such as the ocean economy, examining different aspects from their respective contexts.
“The idea is not to treat stories as isolated,” Chan-Meetoo said. “Environmental issues are interconnected, and so should be the reporting.”
Building a regional hub
Beyond individual training, the project has a broader ambition to establish a regional hub for environmental journalism. This would include a network of journalists and a database of science and policy experts that would be accessible to media practitioners across the Indian Ocean.
Such a hub could help address one of the biggest challenges facing environmental reporting in the region, which is limited access to credible sources and specialised knowledge.
The initiative could also have long-term implications for journalism education. Chan-Meetoo said the outcomes of the programme would inform a review of curricula at the University of Mauritius, potentially leading to dedicated modules on environmental and climate journalism.
“At the moment, this topic is covered only incidentally within general journalism courses,” she said. “This training gives us the opportunity to develop more structured teaching.”
If successful, the model could be replicated in other institutions across the region, helping to close a well-documented gap in climate journalism training in Africa.
Expanding the agenda through co-creation
An unexpected outcome of the project has been the emergence of new topic areas through public engagement. Following the programme’s launch, stakeholders such as NGO representatives, have proposed additional angles such as animal welfare and ethical issues like animal testing.
Chan-Meetoo said this has inspired plans to develop a shared database of story ideas, sources and research materials, contributed by experts and practitioners.
“Often, journalists end up covering the same topics repeatedly,” she noted. “But there are many untapped stories. This co-creation approach can help bring those to light.”
As climate impacts intensify across the Indian Ocean region, the need for robust, informed journalism has never been greater. By combining scientific training, mentorship and regional collaboration, the training represents a significant step towards strengthening the media’s role in telling those stories.
If its ambitions are realised, it could help transform not only how environmental issues are reported, but also how they are understood by the public and policymakers alike.
Antananarivo, Madagascar. Image by Chen EdisoN via Pexels.
This article was originally published by Ajen Newsletter on 13 April 2026.