Heat is climate change’s deadliest impact. A new report from the Climate Impact Lab projects 451,000 additional heat-related deaths during the current El Niño event, which will push temperatures beyond normal. The Sahel and West Africa are among the most affected regions, with 31,400 projected additional deaths between September and February in Nigeria alone. How can journalists in West Africa report on figures like these, without resorting to catastrophic headlines and sensationalism?
Join report co-author Dr. Genevieve Maricle and journalists Mariam Ileyemi (Premium Times, Nigeria) and Albert Oppong-Ansah (Ghana News Agency) for a special conversation digging into what we know. The panel will explore what these projections mean for communities in the region, what the numbers can and can’t tell us, and how journalists can cover heat as a human health story. Journalists in the audience will have the opportunity to ask the panelists questions.
Panelists
- Mariam Ileyemi, Journalist, Premium Times (Nigeria)
- Dr. Genevieve Maricle, Executive Director, Climate Impact Lab, Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago
- Albert Oppong-Ansah, Assistant News Editor, Ghana News Agency
Kizito Cudjoe, Head of Extractive Industries at the Business & Financial Times (B&FT), will moderate.