In the run-up to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP 18) in Qatar next month, Panos London is helping Connect4Climate (C4C) and TerrAfrica search for creative young people who have powerful audio stories to share about land degradation and sustainable land and water management in Africa.
Here at Panos we’ve always been passionate about radio and for many years we have provided a platform for people to tell the story of climate change. We want to hear your stories about how land degradation and sustainable land and water management are affecting communities in Africa. It could be first person testimonies or a detailed look at some of the issues or solutions – however you want to tell the story.
The first prize for two winners is an invitation to COP18 in Doha to report on the negotiations for TerrAfrica Green Radio.
Entries must be between two and five minutes long and submitted as an MP3 file. They may be recorded in any language and must also be submitted with a transcript in English or French.
Submissions will be judged equally on:
- the power of the podcast’s narrative (includes creativity, impact, and lessons learned)
- potential impact on the competition objectives of raising awareness about African land degradation, sustainable land and water management practices, and also highlighting potential solutions
- originality.
You do not have to be a professional reporter – anyone can enter as long as they are aged between 18 to 35 years old.
Climate change is at the heart of Panos London’s work and we feel land degradation is one of the greatest threats to communities in Africa.
Caused by erosion, desertification, deforestation and poor farming practices, land degradation means fewer crops can be grown, threatening food security and increasing levels of poverty.
Land degradation also causes droughts and ecological imbalance, threatening whole communities.
Poor and landless farmers find themselves trapped in a chronic cycle of land degradation. In need of land they clear forests and bush to plant food crops, which in turn become degraded forcing them to clear further tracts of land.
Sustainable land and water management are crucial to improving food production and human security.
The good news is there are solutions. These include rain water harvesting, bioreclamation of degraded lands and fertilizer microdosing to improve land productivity, to name a few.
Now it is your chance to tell the story.
To enter click on the Voices4Climate Facebook page. All entries must be received by 11:59pm EST, October 29, 2012. For more information about the competition and rules, please click here. Your Facebook account logins are required to complete your submission. If you do not have a Facebook account, get one free here.
The TerrAfrica podcast competition is part of “Voices4Climate”, a global photo, video, and music video competition, organised by Connect4Climate.
TerrAfrica is an African-driven global partnership programme that aims to address land degradation in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Launched by the World Bank, the Italian Ministry of Environment, and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in collaboration with more than 140 global partners in September 2011, C4C is a global partnership program dedicated to climate change communications. Through social media and the web, C4C helps to give voice to local stakeholders that have stories to tell about climate change. In just several months, C4C has created a Facebook community of over 300,000 followers that engage in thousands of interactions per day. Across multiple social media platforms, C4C’s weekly online reach is, on average, between 5 and 6 million.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact connect4climate@worldbank.org
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