11 June 2013
UNCCD Announces Semi-Finalists for Land for Life Award, Invites Photo Submissions
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The Secretariat of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has announced the semi-finalists for the 2013 Land for Life Award.

The three winners will be announced on 17 June, the World Day to Combat Desertification.

In addition, the Secretariat has invited submissions for its third photography contest.

UNCCD logo10 June 2013: The Secretariat of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has announced the semi-finalists for the 2013 Land for Life Award. The three winners will be announced on 17 June, World Day to Combat Desertification. In addition, the Secretariat has invited submissions for its third photography contest.

The 16 semi-finalists for the Land for Life Award are: Abellon CleanEnergy, India, which employs landless farmers and women to practice agriculture under the shade of solar panels; Bilha Givon, Israel, who founded the NGO Sustainable Development in the Negev (SDN); Biovision Foundation, Switzerland and East Africa, which is working with 50,000 maize farmers in East Africa to prevent pests, increase crop outputs and enhance soil fertility; Conservation International, Indonesia, which planted a green wall of 100,000 native trees over a 200-hectare area bordering two national parks; Consejo Civil Mexicano para la Silvicultura Sostenible (CCMSS), Mexico, which built the capacity of 1,500 families of smallholder farmers for sustainable agriculture and forestry management; DeCo! Ghana, which supplies farmers in the savanna region of Ghana with organic fertilizer; EcoAgriculture Partners, US, which acts as global thought leader in the field of sustainable land management (SLM); Excellent Development, UK and Kenya, which supports access to clean water for rural communities; Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), India, which has worked to bring SLM to over 200,000 hectares of common property rangelands, forests and water resources in India; Liga para a Protecção da Natureza (LPN) Portugal, which supports farmers to continue traditional steppe farming; Rehabilitation of Arid Environments Trust (RAE), Kenya, which has implemented land rehabilitation techniques based on harvesting rainfall as well as other programs supporting rural livelihoods; Royal Botanic Garden, Community-Based Rangeland Rehabilitation Project, Jordan, which introduced a program of managed grazing; The Savory Institute, Zimbabwe, which has pioneered the concept of holistic land management; Venanzio Vallerani, Italy (In memoriam), who pioneered the ‘Vallerani system,’ a method of land cultivation that prepares the earth for planting and better water absorption during the short rainy season; Wildlife Works, US and Kenya, which pioneered the first application of the UN REDD+ program and carbon credits to finance large-scale forest conservation in the tropics; and World Vision Australia, which helps farmers cultivate buried root systems in degraded landscapes.

Submissions for the photography contest should be made between 3 June and 26 July 2013. Winners will be notified by 27 August 2013. Winning photos will be selected by the public, and the first prize winner will win a trip to Namibia for the eleventh session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 11) to the UNCCD. [UNCCD News Release on Land for Life Award] [UNCCD News Release on Photo Contest]

 

 

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