Journo authors environmental journalism book

Raphael Mwenenguwe, author of Environment: What Makes it News

The book titled Environment: What Makes it News which has been published by Germany's Lambert Academic Publish GmbH and Co. KG., and is set to create an environmental spot on bookshelves which was only filled and dominated by journalism books on economics, politics and sports.

"I wrote the book because I have seen that there are none on the market by a Malawian journalist. Most of the journalism books we read are either on politics, economy, sports and agriculture and journalism as a whole but we need also book on specific area such as environment," Mwenenguwe told Bizcommunity in an exclusive interview.

He said he has also been prompted to write the book after reading The Silent Spring by an American author Rachel Carson who questioned the American government for allowing people to use dangerous chemicals such as DDT, which later had an impact on the environment and human health.

Mwenenguwe, who is a multi-award winning international journalist, said locally the book will offer some help because most of the examples he has used in the book are local and they come from his own experience as a journalist.

"While working full-time with The Nation I used to walk in some areas without a bicycle or taxi to take you [readers] to remotest part and see for yourself how devastating the degradation on the environment was," he said.

A focus on the environment

Locally, he says environment does not get much attention, a case which is in most foreign media and yet issues of environment affect the economy, agriculture, loss of biodiversity, deforestation and human health.

He says the book is going to challenge local writers to write on the environmental problems Malawi is facing in relation to what it affects.

Internationally Mwenenguwe, a seven-time international environmental award-winning journalist, says the book tackles climate change coverage as a global problem.

"We also have problems relating to climate change such as issues to do with international signings or conventions such as the Kyoto Protocol, which the Russian government has indicated it will not re-commit itself into signing it when it expires next year (2012)," he said.

The book is offering some solutions in covering the general environment because environmental problems are not confined to Malawi but to other countries as well such as the US and Japan, he says.

Although Lambert Academic Publishing of Germany published the book, it was edited by journalism and environmental experts in the USA and Germany.

The book covers specific topics

The book covers direct areas including HIV/AIDS and the environment, gender and the environment, forests, air, water pollution, agriculture or soils and many other environmental issues affecting the world today.

At the moment, copies of the book are not found locally but Lambert Academic Publishing is selling it at €49 while Barnes and Noble are selling it around US$65. Copies can also be purchased online at Amazon.co.uk.

Mwenenguwe currently runs an environmental column in The Sunday Times called 'Politics of the Environment' where he also tackles environmental issues with gusto and persuasion.

Deputy editor at Malawi News, Innocent Chitosi, said this is probably the only locally authored journalism reference book which will prove handy to journalists and journalism lecturers.