BBC World presenter Lyse Doucet hosted the Earth Journalism Awards ceremony at the Danish Radio City Hall on December 14 and began by quoting her co-host, chair of the IPCCC Dr. Rajendra Pachauri:

“If we are to have any hope of reversing the effects of climate change then we have a monumental task of educating the 6 billion people on our planet. The media is critical because just one reporter has the ability to reach thousands, even millions of people."

More than 900 journalists from approximately 150 countries put these words into action when they participated in Internews’ competition for the best reporting on climate change issues. A panel of experts picked the 15 best stories within seven thematic categories and seven regional awards. The fifteenth award, the Global Public Award, was chosen by more than 6000 readers who voted online.

Jaspreet Kindra, journalist at UN’s Integrated Regional Information Networks, won the Climate Change Adaptation Award for her rare story on how climate change effects local fishing communities in Eritrea and the country's use of wind power and water harvesting techniques.

“Eritrea is a very under-reported country and at the same time hard hit by the effects of climate change. Not many journalists can access the country, so I was very fortunate to be able to tell this story,” said Ms. Kindra.

She used her contact with Eritrean environment officials to arrange a trip from her home in South Africa down the Red Sea coast, where she stayed with local fishermen and experienced their daily struggles due to droughts and food shortage.

Her winning story ‘Eritrea: reaping the wind’ is one out of a series of three articles on climate change in Eritrea. It reports the astounding news that the country saved 346,000 US dollars in imported fossil fuel over an eight-month period by using wind energy to feed the national energy grid.

“Eritrea is one of the poorest countries in the world and responsible for only around 0.05 pct. of global greenhouse gas emissions, and yet it’s already doing its part to mitigate climate change,” said Ms Kindra, and continued:

“The winner is the story itself. People have the impression that poor countries are just at COP15 to get money, but they just want the know-how and the technology to do the little they can. Eritrea is really an example of what political will can achieve even with limited resources.”

The award was presented to Ms. Kindra by the Danish Minister for Development Cooperation Ulla Tørnæs, who hopes that the award will inspire journalists in developing countries to report on climate change:

“It's very important that the stories of the daily life of the people who are most vulnerable to the effects of cliamte change are being told to us who live in a part of the world where we are less vulnerable," said Ms. Tørnæs, who represented the COP15 Host Country Government at the Awards.

Other prices were presented by Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director of Greenpeace, Marina Silva, former Brazilian Minister of Environment, Stefania Prestigiacomo, Italian Minister of Environment, and Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and currently President of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative.

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Original article on the COP15 website