In 2023, R2R, celebrated Women’s Month through launching the “WE Lead Forum: Women Environmental Advocacy Leaders on Addressing the Challenges of Climate Change and Protecting Human Rights in the Philippines”. Designed to highlight women’s roles as lead actors in responding to the challenges posted by climate change and its impact on the human rights of Filipino women, and to stimulate increased commitment to gender equality and further advocacy to promote women’s empowerment, WE Lead was attended online by 77 participants—including 64 women and one non-binary person—from the Philippines and Indonesia. The forum was divided into three main topics: (1) Women and the Environment - Women at the Center of the Climate Dilemma; (2) Gender Equality and Climate Action: Moving Towards Inclusive Engagement and Intersectional Sustainability; and (3) Climate Champions: Leading the Fight Against Climate Change. The forum allowed the discussions to spotlight climate impacts affecting women, especially those in marginalized and vulnerable communities, to investigate the value of women’s participation in climate change adaptation, and to discuss ways to increase women’s representation in mainstreaming climate action. The forum also highlighted stories of women who have successfully led climate initiatives in the past showing how empowered women can play a critical role at the forefront of climate change causes.
With 39 individuals in attendance from the Philippines and Indonesia, the R2R program conducted a second installment of the virtual training for journalists called “R2R Green Ink 2: The 2nd Virtual Media Workshop to Strengthen Reporting on the Impacts of Climate and Environmental Changes to Human Rights of Coastal Communities and Indigenous Peoples” (R2R Green Ink). Hosted between June and July 2023, R2R Green Ink’s objective is to encourage freelance journalists, citizen journalists, influencers, and student journalists to cover stories about the human rights impact of environmental change in communities, to enhance the capacity of individual reporting related to climate change and human rights through mentorship, and to help strengthen the quality of reporting on the impact of human rights on climate and environmental changes. Following the story production mentoring period for selected journalists, this work led to the successful publication of 10 full reports this year, written by Filipino and Indonesian journalists on various news outlets online.
Featured articles written this year by Filipino journalists includes, “The wonders of green transition, a threat to IPs” by Marilou Guieb was published on August 15, 2023 on Baguio Chronicle. Krixia Subingsubing talks about the Igorot tribe’s work using sustainable farming methods in “Sagada farmers return to their roots” published August 27, 2023 in Philippine Daily Inquirer. Lucelle Bonzo’s article, “Tboli group works to restore indigenous crops, methods in Soccsksargen” was published on August 21, 2023 on Rappler.com and DavaoToday.com.
On social media, these publications gathered 2,068 impressions and reached 2,090 engagements. Two of the key messages of this year’s Green Ink pointed to how important journalists’ role is in keeping the populace informed of what is happening and encouraging them to find solutions to mitigate the situation. Earlier this year, three ABA ROLI-trained Indonesian journalists were published in online news outlets in Indonesia—Nofiyatul Chalimah, Journalist at Kaltim Post; Gresi Plasmanto, Journalist at Liputan6; and Andri Mardiansyah, Journalist and Padang Correspondence of viva.co.id.
“Being home to the most climate deniers in the world, many Indonesians are still not aware on the urgency of climate change issue and its impact on people’s livelihood. Therefore, our role (as journalists) is crucial to promote public awareness and understanding on this issue.” - Mr. Joni Aswira Putra, Green Ink Lead Trainer and Head of SIEJ (the Society of Indonesian Environmental Journalists, or in Indonesian, Masyarakat Jurnalis Lingkungan Indonesia), Green Ink, October 2023.
In November 2023, ABA ROLI was pleased to host the inaugural session of “Green Ink” in the Republic of Fiji for seven professional-, freelance-, and student- journalists. This environmental journalism training covered the topics of climate change in both the Fijian and global contexts as well as the need for reporting on climate change from a human rights perspective. The training session included a discussion on climate advocacy journalism and the concept of “do no harm” in human rights reporting.
ABA ROLI will select three trainees to participate in the upcoming environmental journalism mentorship program in which journalists will develop and publish stories on climate change and human rights in their own communities. These journalism activities in Fiji are the first in a series of R2R activities that will take place in Fiji and Samoa in the coming months.
Since inception of the program, R2R has trained and supported hundreds of human rights defenders from the Philippines and Indonesia. The training helped advance Filipino and Indonesian HRDs’ capacity to promote the basic rights; protect and assist the community; and widen the HRDs understanding of the correlation, interpretation, and application of various civil, political, special penal, and environmental laws.
The R2R program has also served clients from marginalized and vulnerable groups from coastal and indigenous peoples’ communities. This service was done through legal aid activities conducted by partner CSOs, Legal Rights and Natural Resources, and the Indonesian Forum for Environment (Indonesian, Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia - WALHI). These vulnerable communities’ basic rights are impacted by the nonaction of local key stakeholders. These communities are harmed over time by stakeholders not addressing rising situations caused by climate change, as well as the abuses and harassments experienced from industries that exploit natural resources.
