Background

How we live and work together in communities and cities can have a huge impact in tackling climate change. Energy efficient buildings, low carbon public transport and encouraging cycling and walking are essential to cutting CO₂ emissions. Greening cities with parks and gardens reduces CO₂ and helps cool urban areas and reduce flooding. Thinking and acting at a local level helps communities fight climate change and build resilience to climate impacts. For instance, producing goods and food locally can lower the cost of transportation, reduce waste and help local economies.

What we are looking for?

We are looking for videos that showcase fantastic ideas that have already been implemented into concrete actions both in cities and locally which mitigate and/or help communities adapt to climate change. What we’re most interested in seeing are videos that demonstrate inspirational actions taken by youth to combat climate change regardless of where you come from or whether you have access to state of the art equipment.

Actions could include:

• Campaigning to produce behavioral change
• Developing more sustainable commuting
• Producing products and food locally
• Providing services to people affected by climate change
• Reducing the use of energy in buildings
• Local solutions for sustainable energy access and transformation
• Creating wealth from waste
• Reclaiming green spaces
• Implementing the sharing economy

Background

The natural world – land, forests, habitats and ecosystems - support all life on the planet. Our food systems, nutrition, and health depend biodiversity and healthy ecosystems. However, our food systems are the greatest drivers of biodiversity loss.

• In the last 100 years, more than 90 percent of crop varieties have disappeared from farmers’ fields
• half of the breeds of many domestic animals have been lost
• all of the world’s 17 main fishing grounds are now being fished at or above their sustainable limits
• locally varied food production systems are under threat, including related indigenous, traditional and local knowledge.

We need to mobilize and catalyze action around our concerns on health, nutrition, and food systems, and to raise awareness on how to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity for our well-being. Protecting biodiversity is critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, including those related to hunger, poverty and health.

We can live more climate friendly lifestyles if we manage our natural resources sustainably, and be more energy and resource efficient during the entire life-cycle of the goods we consume.

Actions could include:

• Producing locally varied fruit and vegetables
• Fishing sustainably
• Buying more organic and seasonal foods
• Reducing food waste and composting your food scraps
• Reducing the use of pesticides and fertilizers
• Protecting local pollinators
• Building more habitat in your gardens and community
• Working with local communities and learning about traditional knowledge
• Campaigning to produce behavioural change related to eating or consumption habits (at school etc.)
• Reducing food packaging by using reusable bags or reusing glass jars or containers
• Avoiding single-use plastics like plastic straws, coffee cups, plastic cutlery, take out containers or plastic water bottle

Background

Healthy land-based ecosystems – forests, drylands, wetlands– are vital to all life on earth. We need a rich land able to produce good food and absorb carbon, forests to prevent erosion and help regulate the climate, and diverse balanced ecosystems to maintain the life on land.

But the use of unsustainable land management techniques, over-cultivation or overgrazing is degrading the land, leading to soil erosion and desertification, and reducing the ability of nature to support life on the planet.

More sustainable ways of growing and consuming food and preserving natural habitats could help us secure our food and water supplies, prevent land degradation, mitigate the effects of drought and protect nature at the same time.

Submit videos that showcase balancing use of land for people and ecosystems

Actions could include:

• Restoring and protecting landscape and forests
• Protecting wildlife and habitats
• Reducing emissions by engaging in sustainable consumption
• Promoting the use of sustainable land management techniques, both traditional and innovative
• Rehabilitating land that has been degraded
• Supporting indigenous groups to protect their communal lands
• Supporting sustainable food growing systems to improve the land and its biodiversity
• Sharing successful strategies and training new generations to develop sustainable solutions
• Campaigning to produce behavioral change