Best Climate Practices contest

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"

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.

Moreinfo: http://www.bestclimatepractices.org/contest