INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTRE KURDISTAN

IMCK's blog that results from the Environment Workshops in Erbil and Sulaymaniya is on line and has been updated. The blog shows stories that are the result of the workshops, where experts (from Nature Iraq and elsewhere) gave their views and shared some of their knowledge. The workshops were funded by the American Consulate in Erbil. Read Nature Now on this location .

Winter starting early in Kurdistan had its effects on the opening van the second part of the Environment Workshop by IMCK and Nature Iraq on November 12, 2012. The workshop started in the Eco Camp of Nature Iraq in Mergapan, outside Sulaymaniya, but had to be moved to the IMCK training hall in Sulaymaniya because of the heavy rain. The walk on the Piramygroon mountain that was planned as part of the first day, had to be canceled because of the muddy and slippery conditions of the terrain. The workshop started with British expert Tony Miller (of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh) talking about deforestation and the results for the mountains of Kurdistan. International trainer is Jan Michael Ihl, and he is seconded by co-trainer Shwan Mohamed, as lead training Khaled Sulaiman was away for urgent family reasons.T he website  Nature Now that is made for the workshop will be renewed with the stories that derive from this workshop.  The workshops ar...

IMCK opened the website Nature Now  for the best stories that were the result of the Environment workshop that took place in October. IMCK trainer and independent journalist Khaled Sulaiman is in charge of the editing. The second part of the workshop will start on November 12, 2012 at Nature Iraq's Eco Camp near Sulaymaniya, with the 15 best participants of the first one. The workshops, which are a cooperation between IMCK and Nature Iraq, are made possible with funding of the American Consulate in Erbil.

When is the last time you read a story on the environment? I bet it is too long ago. This is why IMCK organized two 4 day workshops on environment, in close cooperation with Iraq own Greenpeace, Nature Iraq. There is a need for more journalists who write about the environment in order to create more awareness. Environment is something to treasure, to save and protect for the future. The first workshop started on October 8, 2012 at the IMCK training room in Erbil with a group of over twenty participants. A selection of 15 of them will be invited to also join the second 4 day workshop in November in the Eco Camp of Nature Iraq in Sulaymaniya. The training started with two experts: Lisa Hilleke on water issues, and Azam Alwash, the chairman of Nature Iraq, on the general environmental situation in Iraq. The trainers representing IMCK are international trainer Jan Michael Ihl and our lead trainer Khaled Sulaiman. Translator is Goran Sabah. The workshops are m...

Environment is important, but does not get the attention it should in Kurdistan because the region has so many other problems, Kaka Ibrahim said, the director of the department of Planning at the Environment Ministry in Irbil. IMCK-trainer Andre van der Vlugt visited him before starting a workshop Environment for Journalists in the Kurdish capital. Ibrahim agreed that climate change is the main issue of the moment and the future, but indicated his ministry can only collect information and share it with the ministers and the public. 'And politicians do not listen.' Andre van der Vlugt is a former journalist who is now working for the international environmental organisation Greenpeace. On April 14 he started a 5 day workshop at the training of IWPR in Irbil for 15 journalists of print, radio and TV. Partner organisation is Media Development Organisation in Irbil.