From June 15 to 17, 2026, Environmental Defenders (ED) hosted a residential environmental journalism training and mentoring workshop on biodiversity, climate, and pandemics. It brought together reporters from more than 10 media houses across Mahagi Territory. Of the 26 participants, at least three were women.
The workshop followed strict Ebola prevention protocols. In fact, organizers chose a residential format specifically to limit participants’ movement and reduce their exposure as the disease swept through the region.
Why environmental journalism training matters in Ituri
ED organized the training with the Mahagi section of the National Union of the Congolese Press (UNPC). The goal was to give local journalists and newsrooms strong environmental reporting skills. Such reporting links the protection of Ituri’s forests and Congo Basin biodiversity with community rights and global health security. It also helps mobilize communities against epidemics such as Ebola and other zoonotic diseases.
The stakes are high. The Congo Basin, which includes Ituri, holds the planet’s second-largest tropical rainforest and is Africa’s most effective natural barrier against climate change. It is home to thousands of endemic plants and animals. Yet mining, logging, and unsustainable farming are steadily taking their toll. The journalists covering this territory are among the few who can alert the public before more is lost.
Opening the environmental journalism training
Colonel Disanoa Lalua Jacques, the military administrator of Mahagi Territory, opened the workshop. He urged participants to turn their microphones and pens into tools for change. He also reminded them of their duty to inform, protect, and awaken civic awareness in the face of biodiversity loss, rapid deforestation, and rising health risks.
Samuel Jaryekonga Warom, Communications Director of Environmental Defenders, then made a broader case. No conservation policy can succeed, he said, without a strong, courageous, and independent press. Moreover, defending nature today is no longer only about forests and wildlife. It is now inseparable from human rights, social justice, and the health of local communities.
What the environmental journalism training covered
Over three days, the program covered four modules. They were the basics of environmental journalism, the ecological and climate realities of Ituri, the One Health” approach to pandemic coverage, and tools for fact-checking and crisis- and conflict-sensitive reporting. Sessions combined science, journalistic ethics, and hands-on field techniques.
The facilitators included an ED consultant; Désiré Uwekmeno, president of the UNPC Mahagi section; journalists Jacques Unyutha of Radio Colombe and Olivier Bernirwoth; environmental engineer Jacques Arua, a professor at the University of Lake Albert (UNILAC); and Dr. Aubain Luambo, an epidemiologist at the Mahagi Referral Health Center.
Mapping ecological pressures, chiefdom by chiefdom
In one of the most revealing exercises, journalists split into groups by radio station and chiefdom to assess the ecological pressures on their doorsteps. The results showed a territory under strain.
In Wagungu Chiefdom, Radio Terra FM flagged the destruction of buffer zones and fish spawning grounds and the felling of ancestral trees. In Panduru, Radio Mont Akara pointed to reckless timber and fuelwood cutting. It also flagged sand extraction and unmanaged waste. Radio Nyarambe FM described land-use conflicts between farmers and authorities in Angal. In Alur Djuganda Chiefdom, Radio de Djalasiga described gold mining that pollutes rivers and swallows farmland and forest. Only Djukoth Chiefdom, covered by Radio RADID, reported a relatively stable situation.
Climate Change Already Visible in Mahagi
On the second day, journalist Jacques Unyutha showed how climate change is already visible in Mahagi. Rainfall is erratic, floods recur, temperatures are rising, and farming calendars are disrupted. Group analysis found that staple crops, cash crops, livestock, and fisheries suffer most. As a result, yields are falling and market prices are rising.
Engineer Jacques Arua then explained the science of meteorology and climatology. Later, he hosted the group at UNILAC’s meteorological station to show how field data can help anticipate health and environmental risks.
The One Health approach and an Ebola warning
A central lesson was the “One Health” approach, which holds that human health is inseparable from the health of animals and the environment. Désiré Uwekmeno and Dr. Aubain Luambo co-led the session. They linked the deforestation the journalists had documented to health crises such as Ebola and mpox.
“If we kill the environment, the environment kills us too.” — Dr. Aubain Luambo, epidemiologist, Mahagi Referral Health Center
Dr. Luambo gave detailed guidance on the outbreak now facing the province. The current crisis is driven by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, one of the types that have struck the DRC before. Unlike the Zaire strain, it has no approved vaccine, so health services must rely on treating symptoms. With an incubation period of 2 to 21 days, he stressed, vigilance must be absolute.
He noted that the epidemic began in Mongbwalu, a major artisanal mining area. This, he said, is a clear example of the link between deforestation, disturbed habitats, and the spillover of disease that the workshop set out to explain.
He also warned journalists not to let statistics hide the human reality of the emergency, even though the Bundibugyo strain is less lethal than the Zaire strain.
“For a family that loses its members, the lethality rate is always 100%. Every human life cut short is an absolute tragedy.” — Dr. Aubain Luambo
The numbers are sobering. The Ebola epidemic was declared on May 15, 2026. Two days later, the World Health Organization declared it a public health emergency of international concern. By June 22, the DRC Ministry of Health had confirmed more than 1,000 cases, making it the third-largest Ebola outbreak on record. On July 4, authorities reported 33 new confirmed cases, including six deaths, across Ituri and North Kivu. Several health workers are among the dead.
A live Ebola communication response
The training did more than share theory. Environmental Defenders also used it to build a live crisis-communication response into the local media. Since the outbreak was declared, ED and Radio Terra FM have produced awareness spots, educational songs, and special programs. Ebola messages are now a mandatory segment across all Terra FM programming. By June, ED had also printed more than 70,000 posters in local languages for the most remote communities.
To extend this reach, Samuel Jaryekonga Warom announced a partnership with 15 key radio stations across Ituri, including eight in Mahagi Territory. Together, they will broadcast a series of 10 Ebola awareness spots, 360 times a month. He also urged health experts to engage more with local radio. Some decline interviews, he regretted, just when reliable scientific voices are most needed.
Participants also studied ED’s landmark 2022 report, “Last Line of Defense”, as an investigative roadmap. Its case study of the Kibali River Basin shows how mining migration, displacement, and food exports have caused chronic food insecurity. Watsa Territory is classified at IPC Phase 3, and fallow periods have shrunk to a critical 3.3 years, too short for forests to regenerate.
Why Environmental Journalism Training Is Needed in Ituri
The workshop responded to a real gap. Journalists across Ituri face persistent obstacles in covering biodiversity, climate, and the environment. Field research is difficult. In addition, it is almost impossible to reach experts who can speak with authority on biodiversity loss, deforestation, forest conservation, and extinction risk. As a result, newsrooms struggle to report on these issues at the local, regional, and national levels.
Many outlets also lack the tools that environmental reporting requires. Where training exists, it is usually designed for reporters outside local radio, broadcast, or online media. Consequently, many stations, particularly in Mahagi Territory, have had little capacity to gather, verify, and broadcast stories on biodiversity, climate, and deforestation. The ED workshop set out to start closing that gap.
Lessons Learned by the Journalists
By the end of the third day, organizers said, the 26 participants had gained practical command of investigative tools linked to One Health, political ecology, and conflict-sensitive journalism. They also learned to cross-check data, verify testimony, and debunk rumors, one of the biggest obstacles to fighting Ebola in Ituri.
Participants’ own words showed their enthusiasm. Johny Unencan of Radio Nyarambe FM called the three days a precious chance to sharpen his weekly program. Sephora Ucamgiu of Radio Colombe pledged, on behalf of her fellow women journalists, to apply the lessons immediately to defend ecosystems and future life. Gustave Ucakire Nikuma of Radio Japidi captured the group’s mood.
“Truly, thank you very much to Environmental Defenders for this training. Today, we have become true defenders of the environment, and we are going to raise awareness in our communities with great strength.” — Gustave Ucakire Nikuma, Radio Japidi
Speaking for the union, Désiré Uwekmeno announced that the journalists plan to form an official group of “Pro-Environment Journalists” and will ask ED to support it. He closed with a call for vigilance that summed up the week’s two goals.
“Let us all be actors of change in our society, starting with our radio stations, our professional environment. Protect yourselves and protect your families against the Ebola virus disease.” — Désiré Uwekmeno, President, UNPC Mahagi section
Journalists Call for a Network and Fair Pay
Participants also used the workshop to press for change in their profession. They unanimously called for a permanent network of environmental journalists in Mahagi, independent of individual newsrooms, and for certificates recognizing their new skills.
Several said they work without formal contracts or regular pay. This insecurity pushes some reporters to rely on transport allowances from the very people they interview, a practice known locally as “coupage” that undermines editorial independence. They urged ED and its partners to address this structural weakness in future support for the local press.
Why This Training Matters for Mahagi
Mahagi lies in northeastern DRC on the Lendu Plateau, an Alliance for Zero Extinction site and Key Biodiversity Area on the western shore of Lake Albert. Part of the Albertine Rift, the plateau’s mix of montane forest, gallery forest, and grassy savanna shelters birds found almost nowhere else. They include Chapin’s flycatcher, Chapin’s apalis, Prigogine’s greenbul, and Bedford’s paradise flycatcher.
Across the territory, however, slash-and-burn farming, rising charcoal demand, and small-scale logging are steadily eroding this natural wealth. Overlapping gold-mining concessions threaten even more forest loss. Meanwhile, well-organized and sometimes heavily armed poachers target okapi, chimpanzees, and other wildlife for bushmeat.
ED sees journalists as catalysts for change. They can empower Indigenous and local communities, hold governments accountable for protecting the Albertine Rift and Congo Basin, and build global solidarity for an ecosystem vital to fighting climate change.
ED is an environmental conservation and human rights organization that protects biodiversity and Indigenous Peoples’ rights across Uganda and the DRC. Through its community media program, it trains journalists on environmental and public health reporting and produces programs that turn local audiences into agents of change. In Mahagi in June 2026, that mission took the form of 26 reporters who left better prepared to protect their forests and their neighbors’ lives.
Photos: Environmental Defenders.