Community Media

Environmental Defenders launched Radio Terra, a community media network, to address the pressing need for reliable human rights and environmental information in the Albertine Rift region of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Broadcasting on 95 FM and 97 FM, Radio Terra reaches over 5 million listeners, providing rural and indigenous communities with critical information, advocacy platforms, and a space for connection.

Vision for the Future

Through Radio Terra, Environmental Defenders envisions empowered, informed communities actively engaging in sustainable development, peacebuilding, and environmental stewardship. 

Key Programs and Initiatives

  • We produce and broadcast specific programs to reach the widest audience, including special news bulletins, civic education spots, magazines presenting programs, and conducting debates giving voice to farmers and fisher communities on human rights and environmental impacts of the oil and gas exploration activities in the Lake Albert region.
  • We engage in interactive discussions about various topics such as free, prior, and informed consent, the UN’s guiding principle on business and human rights, the rights of peasants and other individuals working in rural areas, and local constitutions.
  • We broadcast general human rights information for smallholder farmers and fisher communities.
  • We conduct investigations into human rights violations, forced evictions, and environmental harms associated with the oil development projects in the region.
  • We provide spaces for human rights defenders and environmental and land rights activists to appear on the radio to discuss the challenges they are working to address.
  • We give voice and space to farmers, fisher communities, and landowners to appear on the radio and denounce violence and abuse of their rights by businesses and corporations in the Albertine region, as well as support them in telling their own stories.
  • We produce news bulletins, interactive debates, features, in-depth reports, and short spots, analyze local, regional, national, and international issues, and contextualize them with testimonies from vulnerable populations. We link these issues and their implications to the daily lives of citizens, empowering them to become agents for change.
  • We produce multimedia broadcast programs and organize debates that bring together farmers, fishermen, political actors, civil society, and large and small companies, thus bringing educational insights to an audience of 20 million+ listeners through FM broadcasts and website livestreaming.
  • We produce programs that raise awareness of the challenges of fighting global warming and support the shift to green economies and societies in the Lake Albert region. We produce these programs in languages that farming communities in the region widely understand.
  • We conduct sensitization on environmental conservation, tree planting, climate-smart agriculture, and effective advocacy for the protection of degraded land and forests.
  • We provide agricultural extension services and disseminate best farming practices, including agroecology knowledge.
  • We train journalists on environmental reporting, food security issues, among others.
  • We educate farmers to diversify best practices such as coffee, aquaculture, oilseeds, and livestock while maintaining a focus on the environmental and resilience benefits that come from diversified farming systems and integrated soil fertility management.
  • We establish listening clubs for smallholders in various villages. This allows for the exchange of information and lessons among farmers’ groups.
  • We produce programs and campaigns against illegal wildlife trafficking, poaching, and trade in endangered wildlife and plant species.
  • We raise awareness regarding the protection and conservation of wildlife and plant species.
  • We use radio broadcasts, journalism skills, and technology to reduce obstacles that may prevent women’s voices from being heard in political discussions, peace processes, and debates on all the issues of daily life.
  • We offer news and public service information that explains the locations of conflicts, the areas under security, and the locations of humanitarian aid.
    We provide information that allows the population to better protect themselves against the risks that threaten them.
  • We produce a program that prevents conflict through inclusive dialogue, governed by the rules of respect for speaking time and representation of diverse points of view.
Broadcasting Programs on Rights & Environmental Impacts
Investigating Rights Violations & Environmental Harms
Interactive Talks on Human Rights & Rural Issues
Radio Platforms for Rights & Environmental Activists
Amplifying Voices of Farmers & Landowners on Rights
Producing Reports & Debates to Empower Citizens for Change
Broadcasting Educational Programs for 20M+ Listeners