On August 17, 2025, heads of state and other delegates will be convening in Madagascar for the 45th Ordinary Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government, where Zimbabwe will hand over the leadership of the sub-regional body to Madagascar. The Summit serves as the supreme policy-making institution of the subregion. Given the summit’s influence, IPI calls on SADC Heads of State and Government to formally recognize and champion the role of climate and environmental journalism as a strategic pillar for regional development.
The press is crucial to states’ environmental, economic, and development goals. This is especially relevant given the summit’s theme: Advancing industrialisation, agricultural transformation, and energy transition for a resilient SADC. To achieve this regional goal, heads of state should protect climate and environmental journalists from physical and legal harm. National and regional plans should strengthen climate and environmental journalism.
READ THE LETTER BELOW
August 13, 2025
RE: A call to heads of state to recognize and enable climate and environmental journalism as a vital, strategic pillar for sustainable development.
Your Excellencies,
The International Press Institute is an international organization based in Vienna that promotes and advances press freedom and independent journalism worldwide. IPI is one of the world’s oldest press freedom organizations, established in 1950 by a group of leading editors, journalists, and publishers who believed that freedom of the press and quality, fact-based journalism help build a better, freer, and more peaceful world.
Our organization advocates for press freedom and independent journalism across Africa. This includes raising awareness about the essential role that environmental and climate journalism plays in helping states achieve their environmental, economic, and development goals and priorities.
Ahead of the 45th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government on August 17, 2025, in Antananarivo, Madagascar, we write to urge you to prioritize climate and environmental journalism as a key pillar in achieving SADC’s regional development goals. In light of the Summit’s theme: Advancing Industrialisation, Agricultural Transformation, and Energy Transition for a Resilient SADC, we wish to underscore the essential role of the press to ensure the success of this regional vision. Independent media are essential to ensure a well-informed public and private sector, which are both critical stakeholders for successful industrialization, agricultural transformation, and energy transition.
There is a critical need for SADC states to support and enable independent, quality news and information on the climate and environmental crises in Africa, as these challenges are driving related humanitarian crises, conflict, and political instability across the continent, which would undermine this vision. These challenges are also exacerbated by the proliferation of disinformation, including on climate-related issues, that is polluting news and information ecosystems in Africa and further weakening trust in democracy, the media, and other public institutions. Accurate and fact-based information that independent media provides is therefore crucial to drive sustainable change.
Despite the critical role that the media plays, journalists covering climate and environmental stories and investigating environmental crimes and the impacts of industrial projects face significant risks. These include physical and legal threats, restrictions to access to information and censorship, as well as targeted disinformation campaigns aimed at discrediting their investigations. We therefore urge you to help foster an environment in which all journalists can carry out their work freely and safely, including by addressing attacks against them and upholding their rights to access and share information.
There is an urgent need for increased support, strategic advocacy, and capacity building to enhance public-interest journalism with regard to the climate and environment. Specifically, we call on SADC states to:
- Integrate climate and environmental journalism as an essential pillar of national and regional strategies related to industrialization, agricultural transformation, and energy transition.
- Support independent media as a public good, including by ensuring a legal, policy, and operating environment that enables journalists reporting on climate and environmental topics to do their work freely and safely. Commit to carrying out swift, independent, and transparent investigations into attacks against climate and environmental journalists.
IPI stands ready to discuss these recommendations further and to support the work of SADC on this matter, as we are certain that robust, independent reporting on matters related to the environment and climate would help ensure the successful achievement of SADC’s regional vision.
Yours sincerely,
Scott Griffen
IPI Executive Director