Daily Times

The environment is a crucial and decisive factor wielding influence on sustainable growth and development prospects. Important environmental issues like deforestation, loss of fertile soil, salinity, water and air pollution, solid waste disposal, etc., are the direct result of human-driven activities and an impediment to the development.

The environment and development are joined at the hip. Without controlling/minimising environmental issues, objectives of sustainable growth and progress cannot be achieved.

The world is witnessing disastrous changes in weather. Many countries are facing an ever-increasing frequency of strong typhoons, hurricanes, floods, smog, pollution, droughts, etc.

Pakistan is also facing the ever-growing problem of pollution, deforestation, floods and particularly, smog, in recent years that engulfed the major cities of Punjab during October and November, because of the large-scale burning of paddy stubble.

Adding fuel to the fire, this smoke mixed with vehicular emission makes the air un-breathable. According to the estimates, every year in Punjab (East and West), about seven to eight million metric tonnes of paddy stubbles are burnt openly to prepare for sowing wheat and other Rabi crops.

According to the World Bank’s Report “Cleaning Pakistan’s Air: Policy Options to “Address the Cost of Outdoor Air Pollution,” each year, more than 20,000 pre-mature adults and approximately 5,000,000 children suffer from diseases due to the bad air quality or air pollution. It is worth mentioning here the above-mentioned figure is several times bigger than the number of people killed due to terrorism.

Media has a pivotal role to play regarding the formulation of policies and measures to counter pollution

The above-stated figures are evident that how grave is the issue of the environment and pollution in Pakistan. Due to the struggling economy and low HDI (Human Development Index) in Pakistan, neither government nor policymakers paid any attention to arrest the monsters of pollution and environmental problems. Pakistan is fast losing its forested area and soil erosion. A grave threat of severe water shortage is imminent.

With these ideas in mind, it is interesting to consider that to inform, entertain and educate are aspired as the core function of media. Media acts as a watchdog and protects the interest of the people by reporting the issues of public interest. As an important source of information, the media acts as a strong influence on people’s attitude and knowledge on environmental issues. Hence, it is very important to inform and educate people about environmental issues. Mass media plays a significant role in covering news and information on environmental incidences, issues and problems.

Mass media is a powerful agent of social change and has been used for the purpose. It has the potential to be used as a powerful tool to mobilise society and bring a behavioural and attitudinal change. According to Marx’s argument, “mass media, known as a means of production, which disseminates the ideas and world views are an agent of ideological control.”

Specifically, common viewers perceive the news reports as authentic.

Hence, news reports are pivotal in changing public opinion about the government’s initiative to counter the environmental problems and solve them. The media reports on environmental issues, not only to inform people how are officials responding to these problems but also to provide them with essential education to stay safe and unharmed from these environmental problems. The media also plays its role in keeping people abreast about the progress on projects to protect and conserve the environment and other related concepts like recycling, solid waste management as well as about efforts and initiatives to save the mother earth.

Humans are an inseparable and crucial part of the environment. Our actions on the natural ecosystem and human society bear consequences. Exchange of information regarding human dealings with the environment is vital because, with better understanding and knowledge of the environmental issues, our future generations would be able to enjoy a cleaner and healthier environment. However, due to the complex nature of environmental information, it is not easy to communicate this information, as due to the media organisations’ hierarchy, important meaning or information could be lost.

Many journalists themselves are not well-equipped and trained to understand and interpret complex scientific concepts. Furthermore, the environment is not taken as a subfield of journalism. Hence, there is no dedicated reporter available to cover the environmental issues; making the environmental reporting weaker and vulnerable.

In the dynamics of contemporary socio-ecological systems, media representations play an important part. The media agenda has the potential to advocate for a policy change or to sensitise people about a certain issue that can change or affect the state of the environment. According to the circumstances and vested interests, media highlights a smaller issue that people believe is a serious threat, while sometimes, a major issue is suppressed in a way that no one notices its intensity and damage to nature.

Since the 1990s, the shifting paradigm from traditional to new media has changed the dynamics of the media. But still, traditional media is considered important in information dissemination, creating or shaping public opinion and also as an important catalyst of social change by giving awareness and education to the people about the issues of public benefit and interest such as environmental issues.

Although throughout the world, environmental problems and issues are increasing but developing countries like Pakistan are facing more grave and serious issues of climate change and environmental problems. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that people should know more about environmental issues and problems and also how to counter or minimise the effects of these changes. Media also has a pivotal role to play regarding the formulation of policies and measures to counter pollution and other factors adversely affecting the environment. Thus, considering its social responsibility, media should include these issues in their reportage and highlight these issues by emphasising the issues regarding the environment and nature. This could be achieved through the increasing frequency of news reports on climate issues, their placement and size/length of the story. Both electronic and print media should extend their cooperation to not only disseminate information on environmental issues but also to suggest and propagate remedies for a better future. We all have a responsibility to our future generations, and we should not look away from it.

The writer is a media and communications professional