The Adaptation Fund – from which Jamaica is benefitting to the tune of $10 million – has launched a global photo competition to promote readiness of the world’s coasts and watersheds for climate change.
The contest was launched on April 22 – recognised internationally as Earth Day – and this year, also when the new climate deal, dubbed the Paris Agreement, opened for signatures.
“The contest is aimed at involving all Adaptation Fund stakeholders, countries and projects, implementing entities, project staff and beneficiaries, executing entities, governments, non-governmental organisations and the general public to raise awareness of climate change issues affecting vital resources around the globe and the importance of developing adaptation solutions,” said a release from the fund.
With half the world’s population living within 60km of the ocean and 75 per cent of all large cities located by the sea, coastal areas are a major source for livelihoods through fishing, natural resources, trade, tourism, boating and recreation.
However, they are under increasing threat from climate change due to sea level rise, storm intensification, flooding, erosion, rising water temperature, species migration and pollution.
“Inland watersheds are equally endangered by climate change-related droughts, floods and extreme rainfall variability, as well as damage to natural protective ecosystems like degraded forests, wetlands, grasslands and river pollution from runoff or contamination,” the release added.
Coastal Zone Management Critical
Coastal-zone management projects that include sea walls, salt barriers and restoration of mangroves offer tremendous benefits in improving sustainability of both the ecosystem and community livelihoods over the long term.
Also beneficial are programmes to enhance urban and rural watershed resources through disaster risk reduction, forest protection, biodiversity conservation, water harvesting, drip-irrigation agriculture and landslide control.
Photos depicting the effects of climate change on coasts and inland watersheds, as well as adaptation actions to address them can be submitted to AFBSEC@adaptation-fund.org by June 3, 2016 with the email heading, ‘AF Photo Contest’.
Complete contest criteria, including relevance to the theme, and the fund’s vision of helping vulnerable communities adapt to climate change, as well as visual impact, originality and informational value, can be found on the fund’s rules page.
Contest winners will be selected by a panel of judges composed of climate change experts with country field expertise, and the winning photos will be displayed at the fund’s Global Climate Readiness Seminar in Washington, DC, July 13-14.
All photo submissions received will be posted by the fund to its Facebook page in an album dedicated to the contest, where anyone can go to like and comment on photos.
