Journalists in the country have been urged to take a leading role in insuring that issues of climate justice are being heard by the communities as well duty bearers.

Catholic Development Commission – CADECOM Programs Officer, Aaron Kandiwo Mtaya made the call in Zomba on Thursday during a media training on climate justice.

Mtaya said there is still need for more efforts to be made in insuring that policies regarding to climate justice are being implemented to safeguard the environment.

“Malawi as a nation has a lot of policies and laws in relation to environment but for us to implement these legal frameworks is still a challenge,” he said.

“We do understand that the media can play a role in insuring that there is climate justice.”

Mtaya said some of the challenges that the country is facing like the occurrences of disasters is as a result of negligence of not acting on the laws that were made.

“They are several gaps that need to be checked and by bringing in the media and different stakeholders will bridge the gap,” he said.

One of the participants, Holyce Kholowa from Nation Publications Limited hailed CADECOM saying the training will help them on how they can report issues of climate justice.

“If we are well familiarized with it, we will communicate the correct message to the communities and also the duty bearers,” he said.

The journalists were drawn from Zomba, Machinga, Balaka and Chikwawa.

CADECOM is implementing an advocacy project to enhance the capacity of women and youths to effectively engage in policy and climate change management processes with support from Irish Aid, through Trocaire.