n a pleasant, balmy morning in late February, I arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Over 40 kilometres and a scenic, hour-long taxi ride later, I reached Sunway City, a township in the neighbouring city of Subang Jaya. This was the home of Sunway University and the Sunway Centre for Planetary Health, which hosted the annual Planetary Health Summit last April. It was also the venue for the workshop I was attending – a chapter of the Capacity Development and Training Series for Media Professionals, where we gathered to discuss planetary health, with a focus on extreme heat and human health.
The workshop brought together 30 journalists and experts from across the Asean and Saarc (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) regions. It was the second in a proposed series of ten workshops held over four years, designed to equip media professionals with the knowledge and skills necessary to report on planetary health, providing training in communicating climate-related challenges, navigating misinformation and integrating solutions-based journalism into reporting. What followed was an engaging and impactful few days of learning, unlearning and relearning.