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KAICIID Trains Journalists to Use Dialogue, Media in Conflict Settlement

The participants acquired the necessary skills to use alternative methods to address conflicts. (Asharq Al-Awsat).
The participants acquired the necessary skills to use alternative methods to address conflicts. (Asharq Al-Awsat).
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KAICIID Trains Journalists to Use Dialogue, Media in Conflict Settlement

The participants acquired the necessary skills to use alternative methods to address conflicts. (Asharq Al-Awsat).
The participants acquired the necessary skills to use alternative methods to address conflicts. (Asharq Al-Awsat).

The King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) held a training workshop that hosted 32 Arab journalists from different religious and cultural backgrounds in Kuala Lumpur. It focused on understanding conflicts and how to use dialogue and media as efficient tools to address them.

During the second workshop of the Dialogue Journalism Project, the participants improved their knowledge of conflicts, and the decisive role that mediation can play to achieve peace.

They also acquired the necessary skills to use alternative methods to address conflicts by studying different cases of social disputes between two parties and developing sustainable and innovative solutions for these cases.

They trained on drafting “primary agreements” aimed at protecting the rights of all parties and establish peace among them.

Waseem Haddad, program manager in the Arab region, underscored the pivotal role that media can play to enhance coexistence, build sustainable peace, and respect the other who comes from another religious, ethnic, and cultural background. “Media can be a bridge of communication and agreement among different communities, and even among the members of the same community,” he explained.

“Journalists can harness dialogue to resolve conflicts and build communication bridges, which highlights the importance of the Dialogue Journalism Project led by KAICIID in the Arab region,” he said.

The participants said that after five days of various workshops and discussion sessions, they felt more open to accept the other and coexist with them without prejudgments, more committed to fighting hate speech, and more able to enhance peaceful agreements among religions and cultures.

They also acknowledged the importance of joining hands to empower the strategic role of media in promoting dialogue, coexistence, conflict settlement, and peace.

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Chinese Study Recommends Region-Specific Diets, amid Rising Obesity Risks

A customer shops for tomatoes at the vegetable section of a supermarket in Beijing, China October 17, 2024. (Reuters)
A customer shops for tomatoes at the vegetable section of a supermarket in Beijing, China October 17, 2024. (Reuters)
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Chinese Study Recommends Region-Specific Diets, amid Rising Obesity Risks

A customer shops for tomatoes at the vegetable section of a supermarket in Beijing, China October 17, 2024. (Reuters)
A customer shops for tomatoes at the vegetable section of a supermarket in Beijing, China October 17, 2024. (Reuters)

Chinese scientists have recommended a region-specific diet they say is crucial to improving eating habits in the country amid a rise in obesity and lifestyle diseases, and as a means to conserve natural and environmental resources.

China in October published its first set of guidelines to standardize the diagnosis and treatment of obesity, with more than half of China's adults already overweight and obese, and the rate expected to keep rising. The government has said that healthier diets are important to treat and prevent obesity.

A group of scientists from the School of Public Health at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, in China's affluent southern Guangdong province, said its study adheres to a "Planetary Health Diet" and advocates a reduced consumption of dairy products and red meat.

Published in the Nature Food journal in August and reported in state media last week, the study recommended that in China's north, which is characterized by a high intake of dairy products but low consumption of vegetables, people need to eat more fruits and whole grains.

In the southwest, which has a harsher environment and severe water scarcity, the region could focus on a high intake of legumes and vegetables rather than its existing very high consumption of red meat, the study said.

In the east, known for its "affluent agricultural culture and developed aquaculture", a higher intake of whole grains, seafood and vegetables was recommended for its residents.

China's health commission did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

The recommended diets work for the prevention of "obesity and cardio-metabolic diseases," said Liu Yan, one of the authors of the study, adding that they help reduce premature mortality and disability, and ensure nutritional requirements for residents.

Not only China but also other developing nations facing similar health and environmental challenges could benefit from the roadmap for the diet, the scientists said in the study.

Brent Loken, global food lead scientist for the World Wildlife Fund, said the study provided a promising way forward for developing countries, including India and Kenya.

"Adopting these planetary health diet variants could serve as a viable strategy for dietary shifts in China to achieve both human health and environmental sustainability goals... with lessons translatable to other countries around the world," he said.