2023

Elders call for quick action to curb rampant exploitation of South Sudanese forests

Entry type: Single project

Country/area: South Sudan

Publishing organisation: SAMA FM RADIO STATION, INFONILE, AND CITY REVIEW NEWSPAPER

Organisation size: Small

Publication date: 2022-10-28

Language: English

Authors: DENIS MORRIS MIMBUGBE
ANNIKA MCGINNIS
RITA JAMES
FREDRICK MUGIRA

Biography:

Denis Morris Mimbugbe is a journalist and educator from South Sudan. He grew up in an extreme village with his parents after being displaced by the civil war in the early 90s. He lived as a refugee child in DR Congo.
He has since worked as a journalist reporting in the field of environment for nine years for InfoNile, Juba Monitor, City ReviewNewspaper and 99.3 SAMA FM.
He has also worked as a peace-building volunteer, working with political leaders, traditional, Youth, and religious leaders to solve intercommunity-Conflict. He co-found the Media and Research Organization South Sudan (MROSS).

Project description:

The project is about the Perception of elders on the rampant exploitation of the indigenous forests and Policies needed for sustainable usage of local forests for the Economy growth of local Population during and post COVID-19 pandemic

Impact reached:

After broadcasting and publishing the story, the ministry of enviroment immidiatly invited me for discussion on the story, and the national government was not aware of the operation of the illigal timber dealers in the country. Some of the laws that were not implimented by the loggers of cuting one tree and plant more 5 were not respected and there was not serious follow up the government put serious measure and monitering team to moniter the companies.

Techniques/technologies used:

For this project to successed successful, the journalist used Hand recorder to record the audios to collect the data during the interviews, We also used Still camera take the pictures and some video, smartphone was uesed for backup in cases

As investigative journalist i to have to use so many technices to get the inforamation i need, first of all i understood the project or the subject very well, Second was to draft the questions, third was to do the maping to identify the interviewees, who gave to give the creadible inforamation.
The story was done on of the town far from the town, i have to do security checking to findout the security situation and to get authorization later from the local authority and the national security to access the area, after that i have to schedule meeting with the interviewee, during the interview i got my interview questions ready at hand, during the interview i normalized the discussions,
Before we procede with the discussion, i asked the concen of the interview if i can use their pictures and voices on the radio and online or newspaper if it will be fine with them, and they sign a concen form for reference if they may denaid that i used their picture or voice without their concen.
To get the information, i used voice recorder, cameras, and smartphone, I was asking open ended questions that allowed them to give more details of the informations and i was noding my head to keep them talking enough, to some extend i was reframing some answers that they may not put clearly, and i pay much of my attention in geting the information they give.

Context about the project:

Is very import for Jury to know the story indepth, because the story is important not only for the South Sudan but for the enter wouldd, but the this mattar the Jury should know about the natural resourses constraints, legal threats, those are the most important things in this story,

What can other journalists learn from this project?

The journalist can learn more things, it depend on the feild each of them had been in. and it depend on their own experiences in media and the educational background, but otherwise any body can pick what every they feel is missing in their reporting.

Project links:

https://infonile.org/en/2022/10/exploitation-of-south-sudanese-forests/

https://infonile.org/en/2022/10/covid-19-demolishes-agriculture-in-south-sudan/

https://www.infonile.org/en/2021/07/protecting-biodiversity-to-boost-south-sudans-economy/?fbclid=IwAR0NYsUuJ1NxqrJjBrUBBpz9krDxs067BJookeEOZ-eJ58xRZgsvHA3sN6

https://infonile.org/en/2021/07/people-living-near-water-still-lacking-clean-water-and-sanitation/

https://cityreviewss.com/loggers-of-impunity-leaving-south-sudans-forest-in-ruin/