About Picture This: Caring for the Earth

Picture This: Caring for the Earth, a photo contest organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in partnership with The AFP Foundation and the Olympus Corporation, was launched in June 2009 and open for entries through the end of September 2009. The competition was open to both professional and amateur photographers who had lived in a country of Africa for 12 months between January 2007 and August 2009. The contest sought photo entries portraying the people of Africa as stewards and protectors of their environment. Photos submitted were expected to document people in Africa working to mitigate or prevent the effects of climate change or environmental degradation.

With this idea in mind, the contest’s panel of judges carefully deliberated over dozens of semi-finalists from countries across the continent. In the end, they chose photos that balanced technical skill with the ability to tell a compelling and inspiring story. While the photo subjects and their photographers come from all ages, ethnic backgrounds and nationalities, they share one thing in common: a belief in the necessity of simple and direct human action to bring about real change to mitigate the present and future effects of climate change and environmental degradation.

The winning photos and photo essays will be displayed on the websites of all three partners and shown in at least three exhibitions in Japan, South Africa and the United States, following an awards ceremony at the Japan Society in New York on 18 November 2009.

At the same time, the photo contest aimed to help build the capacity of amateur and professional photographers, by providing them an outlet for their creativity and awarding prizes of cameras and equipment from Olympus Corporation. Additionally, the winner in the professional category will receive a fellowship with an AFP bureau on the continent.

As part of a number of awareness raising initiatives in the run up to the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December 2009, UNDP organized the photo contest to highlight how the people of Africa are working towards MDG 7 by mitigating the effects of climate change and environmental degradation in their countries, cities, and communities. The aim is to raise the visibility of solutions and to illustrate the importance of local action even as the world focuses on national and global solutions.