IndyAct is based in Lebanon, and has already established local, regional and international campaigns that are based on non-violent and innovative ideas to inspire the required change. The organizations that IndyAct cooperates and partners with include highly respectable international networks and organizations. The first reality environmental TV show hit Lebanon in March 2007, an educational initiative of IndyAct which has allowed us to show Lebanese how 'cool' supporting environmental, cultural and social initiatives can be.

We held a 2-day “Climate Action Media Workshop” on August, 2009, in Ramlieh, Lebanon to update and guide journalists from the Arab region on the current climate change negotiations process, which will end this year in Copenhagen with a new global climate change agreement.

This workshop is part of the biggest global initiative on climate change for this year, “the Global Campaign for Climate Action” (GCCA), which is an international coalition of the main non-governmental organizations from around the world working on climate change policy. The event was attended by more than 40 journalists from across the region, and from all the main media outlets in each Arab country. The workshop was given by top experts in climate change science and policy from the region and abroad. Bill McKibben, a well renowned author and global environmental activist, was one of the individuals present in the event. The discussions focused on the current climate change negotiation process and the state of low performance of Arab countries in these negotiations. The workshop also investigated how Arab media can push the role of the governments in the region forward.

Considered as perhaps the most important international meeting ever held, major environmental organizations around the world are focusing on the development of this agreement, and IndyACT is one of them. "The position of Arab countries in the climate negotiations could be greatly improved if regional media realize the importance of what is happening in the climate change negotiations", said Hiba Farhat, Communication Manager of IndyACT.

Even though IndyACT has very strong relations with regional media, Arab journalism networks are still far away from what is happening on the international scene in terms of climate negotiations. Getting their attention to this will help change the dynamics in the region. The media can raise the attention to climate change considerably if they start following the negotiations, raising public concern, and thus pushing governments to engage more strongly in the issue.

IndyACT calls on all news agencies, bloggers, journalists, etc. to start following on the negotiations and the role of Arab governments in them, as well as to seriously commit to the cause and the critical urgency of the matter and help push for an ambitious, fair and binding climate change agreement!