Turkiye First Lady Emine Erdogan (PNA photo by Lilybeth G. Ison)
MANILA – Türkiye's First Lady Emine Erdogan has underscored the need for global solidarity to mitigate the impact of climate change crisis and other environmental issues.
Speaking at the First Environment Forum organized by Anadolu Agency in Istanbul, Erdogan said "climate change is a problem, which we can resolve if we work together."
She said that climate change is "a vital issue that directly affects 7.5 billion people and all living things. As the whole world, we can only overcome this impasse with global solidarity."
Erdogan also stressed the need to localize the narrative of climate change and the importance of media in addressing environmental concerns to help people better understand the issue.
"People only get news on global warming once a month. It's really sad that this is covered so little in the media as our future depends on understanding this issue,” she noted.
"Media has a unique role and importance in the solution of environmental problems," the First Lady said, however, instead of just reporting the ill effects of what climate change has done to the environment, media should "avoid discourses which give impression that we are helpless against the issue."
"What we need to do is to convince everyone that they are a center of solution in reversing climate change," she added.
The one-day forum, attended by this reporter as one of the resource speakers, has its main theme "Reshaping the Narrative of Environmental and Climate Crises".
The forum was aimed at raising awareness of the climate crisis and environmental issues was held on Oct. 20 at Renaissance Polat Istanbul Hotel in Istanbul, Türkiye.
It also tackled issues such as the need to create a new media language on environmental and climate issues, international news agencies raising global awareness, the duties of traditional and new media outlets, and the pursuit of environmental awareness in new news areas. (PNA)
