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Oxfam provides support for UN climate storytelling contest
A passenger airliner flies past a coal-fired power plant in Beijing, China, on Nov
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A passenger airliner flies past a coal-fired power plant in Beijing, China, on Nov. 13, 2014. (AP/Andy Wong) (AP/Andy Wong)
A passenger airliner flies past a coal-fired power plant in Beijing, China, on Nov. 13, 2014. (AP/Andy Wong)
Oxfam says it will support the Voice2Paris global storytelling contest, launched by the United National Development Programme (UNDP) in August, by providing three additional fellowships for participating journalists to cover the UN Conference on Climate Change, COP21, in Paris in December.
The aid agency says its contribution to the contest is aimed at encouraging journalists' participation in climate change reporting and raising public awareness of climate actions.
'The contest is a fantastic opportunity to create awareness of the harmful impacts of climate change on communities, and of potential opportunities in climate-vulnerable developing countries. This is also a great opportunity for young journalists to strengthen their perception of climate change and to frame it not merely as an environmental issue but also as an issue of social justice and poverty alleviation' Oxfam Hong Kong's manager of Climate Change and Poverty, Wang Binbin, said on Tuesday.
The storytelling contest is open for writers aged 35 years and under from developing countries, who want to contribute Âboth locally and internationally toward greater public awareness of climate change.
The authors of the top five prize-winning stories will be invited to attend and cover the COP21 UN climate summit in Paris. The UNDP will support the top two winners and Oxfam, as a special partner in the contest, will cover travel costs and per diem for the writers of the next three best stories worldwide.
'We welcome the partnership with Oxfam as it gives the UNDP concrete support to expand the voices of vulnerable countries, helps depict the reality of climate change globally and gives a new generation of journalists a chance to get heard during COP21,' said Jo Scheuer, director of Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction at the UNDP's Bureau for Policy and Program Support.
Stories can be submitted in English, and in Arabic, Chinese, French and Spanish with an English translation, on a rolling basis until Oct. 11. Guidelines for participating are available on the UNDP Geneva website.
The stories, once screened and scored, will be published on the UNDP's website and disseminated through partners' channels to ensure maximum outreach and to support the call for an ambitious agenda for climate action to be endorsed at COP21. (ebf)
