In the effort to harness the collective brilliance and promote a wide
range of valuable proposals, every year the Best Climate Practices
observatory invites the users to submit innovative best practices to
tackle climate change or to face a related challenge.
The focus of the contest is "Building local resilience to climate disaster risk"
Moreinfo: http://www.bestclimatepractices.org/contest
The focus of the contest is "Building local resilience to climate disaster risk"
Floods, drought, heat waves and other extreme weather and climate events
pose threats to persons and communities: losses in life and health,
economic damages, displacement, and compromise access to basic needs and
services, such as water, food, energy, transport, communication or
education.
Strategies and actions to cope with climate-related disasters and bounce back quickly are urgently needed.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks report of 2017 identified
extreme weather events as the single most prominent global risk both in
terms of likelihood and impact. According to the latest IFRC annual
review of global disasters, 108 million people were affected by natural
disasters in 2015, around half of whom were hit by drought, a third by
floods and 10 percent by storms. Despite broad recognition that
investing in resilience can save lives and money, IFRC analyses revealed
that only 40 cents of every 100 US dollars spent on international aid
is invested in preparedness and measures to reduce disaster risk.
Disaster risk reduction (DRR) entails systematic efforts to reduce those factors that amplify the impacts of natural hazards.
It includes such actions as building more resilient infrastructures,
investing in disaster preparedness and early warning systems, providing
education, training and capacity building, taking advantage of mobile
and communication technologies, and developing new tools such as micro
insurances and nature-based solutions.
Disaster risk reduction, with
its aim to strengthen the resilience of communities to all hazards, is
an essential piece of the sustainable development agenda. The
Hyogo Framework for Action, which guided disaster risk reduction efforts
from 2005 to 2015, already identified the need to integrate DRR and
climate change adaptation efforts. The 2015 Sendai Framework for
Disaster Risk Reduction reiterated the relationship between DRR measures
and climate change adaptation and emphasized the need for coordination
and coherence in the DRR, climate change, and sustainable development
agendas.
Out of the 17 Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) agreed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015, 10
are strictly tied to the struggle for reducing disaster risk and
building resilience. By choosing the theme of the 2017 Contest, the Best
Climate Practices observatory focuses the attention on core aspects of
the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – contributing, among
others, to Goal 1 (End poverty in all its forms everywhere), Goal 2 (End
hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote
sustainable agriculture), Goal 3 (Ensure healthy lives and promote
well-being for all at all ages), Goal 11 (Make cities and human
settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable), and Goal 13
(Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts).
Although disaster risk reduction
efforts are underway, climate change is increasing the frequency and
intensity of extreme weather events.
Low-income countries and small
islands are the most endangered by climate change impacts, but local
communities in both cities and rural areas are exposed to disaster risk
in the richest and most developed countries as well.
Environmental degradation and socioeconomic factors like poverty and
urban population growth contribute to increase communities’
vulnerability to natural hazards.
Who can participate
The contest is open to anyone, regardless of nationality, age or qualification.
Proposals can be submitted by individual users, teams or organizations.
Submitters can be the authors of the
practice or proponents of a third party’s practice. However, it is
strictly forbidden to submit someone else’s practice/idea as one’s own.
Where an intellectual property owner’s authorization is needed, it is
the responsibility of the submitter(s) to obtain such authorization
prior to submitting the final materials.
Projects previously exhibited or
published on the Best Climate Practices platform may be resubmitted, as
long as they conform to the rules and the entry guidelines of the
competition. For practices/ideas that have been exhibited or published
elsewhere, it is requested to provide clear details through the Note
section in the ad hoc web form.