On the International Day for Universal Access to Information, a new report by the International Press Institute (IPI) finds that journalists covering climate and the environment across six African countries cannot reliably obtain the records they need to hold governments and companies to account. IPI calls on those governments to publish relevant records, enforce response deadlines, and protect the journalists who seek them.
Journalists investigating climate and environmental issues — which include the impacts of climate change, pollution, natural resources extraction, and environmental harm among other key topics — depend on timely, accurate, and usable information to provide the public with vital, credible, and timely information.
Yet, IPI’s report, Access to Climate and Environmental Information: Challenges for Journalists in Six African Countries, which focuses on Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Mozambique, and South Africa, found that access to that information remains inconsistent even in countries that have access to information laws.
The six countries have different legal systems, political contexts, and environmental pressures, but journalists in those countries all face similar challenges in obtaining information. In some countries, useful public platforms exist, but information is frequently fragmented, difficult to search, or understand.
Delays and slow review mechanisms also make information inaccessible when journalists need it most. Where public records are unavailable, journalists must rely on communities, civil society, leaked documents, satellite imagery, and field reporting, which increases the cost and risks of environmental journalism.
The report calls on governments and other stakeholders, including companies, to ensure timely and meaningful access to climate and environmental information and to strengthen protection for climate and environmental journalists, their sources, and whistleblowers, whose work is essential to transparency and accountability. It also urges governments to ensure that state-owned and private companies respect human rights, including the public’s right to access climate and environmental information.
The report is published as part of IPI’s Africa programme, which seeks to protect and advance press freedom and the safety of journalists in Africa, with a particular focus on at-risk groups such as climate and environmental reporters.