By Rita Joshi
BERLIN | BONN (IDN) – The UN Climate Change Secretariat has launched two initiatives to raise young people’s awareness about climate change through videos and photographs.
While winners of the Youth Climate Video Competition were announced on October 6, the deadline for a photo competition has been extended. Works of the winners of this competition too will be exhibited at the upcoming Climate Change Conference in Marrakech from November 7 to 18.
According to a media release by the UN Framework Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC), two young climate activists from Tunisia and Vietnam who tell their inspiring stories of climate action and building public awareness have been selected as the winners of the 2016 Global Youth Video Competition on Climate Change.
The winners, chosen through online public voting, are Faouzia Bahloul from Tunisia and Phuong Vu Hoang from Vietnam. They will travel to the UN Climate Change Conference in Marrakech in Morocco and will work with the communications team of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in covering highlights of the meeting.
The video “Think Renewable” by the young Tunisian Faouzia Bahloul is about the need to increase the use of renewable energy, and explains the research she has been doing on biogas produced with the help of microalgea.
Phuong Vu Hoang in his video entry talks about the vulnerability of Vietnam to climate change, explaining how he deploys his graphic design skills to make posters to inform the public about more sustainable lifestyle choices.
UNFCCC Spokesperson Nick Nuttall said: “In Marrakech, countries will be celebrating the entry into force of the historic Paris Climate Change Agreement, and taking the next crucial steps towards low carbon and resilient societies.
“As they do so, they can be heartened by the enthusiasm and commitment of young people working on concrete ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the impacts of climate change.”
Nuttall added: “The video contributions underscore the fact that governments are not alone in constructing a more sustainable world – civil society, cities, businesses, investors and not least young people around the world are intensely engaged in helping to construct greener, safer and more prosperous societies and envision a better world for their communities and for the globe.”
Young people between the ages of 18 and 30 took part in the competition, with entries submitted from young people in 77 different countries, from France to Fiji.
The competition was launched by the UNFCCC secretariat’s Action for Climate Empowerment initiative, in partnership with Television for the Environment (tve) and supported by the Global Environment Facility’s Small Grants Programme, which is implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The photo competition Addressing Climate Change: In Focus expects participants to make pictures of how their communities have been affected by climate change and how they are adapting, and of ways to reduce greenhouse gases, for example through eco-housing, public transport, solar panels or wind turbines.
Managed by the Lucie Foundation and in cooperation with National Geographic, the competition is open internationally to all young people aged 7 to 18. In today’s world, where photography is an increasingly accessible medium, participants need only a mobile phone to capture powerful images of the effects of climate change.
“Young people are critical in this global effort to address climate change. Having photographed the UN Climate Change conferences for many years, I became inspired to create a global competition involving the younger generation, our future climate custodians, at a grassroots level,” said Henry Dallal, acclaimed photographer and founder of the Addressing Climate Change Legacy Project and author of Addressing Climate Change. [IDN-InDepthNews – 17 October 2016]
Photo: Winners of Youth Climate Video Competition: Phuong Vu Hoang (left) and Faouzia Bahloul (right). Credit: UNFCCC.
IDN is the flagship of International Press Syndicate.