[Unpad Media Channel] Universitas Padjadjaran’s Center for Environmental Communication Studies (Pusdi Komling) have just held the 2024 Wildlife Journalism Competition (WJC) in two cities, Denpasar and Ambon, on June 20 and 24 respectively.
The event, done in collaboration with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is the biggest journalism competition in Indonesian. The competition provided emerging journalists the chance to bring issues surrounding wildlife conservation to light in feature article, photo story, and documentary competitions.
The event in Denpasar took place in Universitas Udayana’s (Unud) Library. With the theme of “Negative Interactions between Humans and Animals from the Perspective of Environmental Journalism”, the event opened with welcoming remarks from Unud Faculty of Social and Political Science’s Vice Dean, Dr. I Made Anom Wiranata.
“The spirit of environmental conservation needs to be nurtured, and it has to be present within us, within all of us here. WJC is very beneficial for the wildlife in Bali and Indonesia as a whole,” said Wiranata.
According to a release received by Unpad Media Channel, the workshop part of the event was attended by a number of subject matter experts including the Head of Administration of BKSDA in Bali, Kadek Andina Widiastuti, Senior Technical Advisor-Surveillance Risk Analysis at FAO ECTAD for Indonesia, Ali Rizqi Arasyi, Government Relations Analyst of Pertamina NRE, Arif Mulizar, and Pusdi Komling Researcher, Dr. Herlina Agustin.
The event also included a seminar with the theme of “Journalistic Practices in Wild Animal Conservation” delivered by Garda Animalia representatives, Mochamad Saifudin and Prema Ananda.
Meanwhile, the event in Ambon was done in collaboration with Universitas Pattimura (Unpatti). With the same theme as the previous event in Denpasar, this event opened with welcoming remarks from the Vice Dean of Student and Alumni Affairs of Unpatti Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Dr. Paulus Koritelu, the Dean of Unpad Faculty of Communications, Dr. Dadang Rahmat Hidayat, and Project Officer of the 2024 WJC, Dr. Herlina Agustin.
In his speech, Dr. Koritelu expressed his hope that the event would signal the beginning of a working collaboration between Unpad and Unpatti. “This event is very strategic, I hope this becomes a point of introspection for all of us who often does not consider the other living beings who play a part in all of our lives,” he said.
Dr. Hidayat echoed the sentiment in his speech afterwards, welcoming the commencement of the event and collaboration. “Hopefully, an emerging journalist from Ambon could become a finalist, and eventually winner, at the grand final held in Bandung this coming November,” he added.
The event held at Unpatti included a seminar given by the Kodam XV/Pattimura Chief of Staff Brigjen Dr. Nefra Firdaus, BKSDA Maluku Forrest Ranger, Kacuk Seto Purwantoro, FAO ECTAD National Technical Advisor for One Health and Emergency Response for Indonesia, drh. Andri Jatikusumah, 2024 WJC Project Officer, Dr. Herlina Agustin, and a journalist for Detik, M. Jaya Barends.
The 2024 WJC itself was inaugurated at Unpad’s campus on May 22. Similar events had been held before in Medan, Surabaya, and Pekanbaru. (release/ICP)*
