A Selfie Competition for Biodiversity and Sustainable Tourism

Our country has been known to be the selfie capital of the world and if you think it's useless, this might actually change your mind.

 You see on May 22, 2017, countries around the world will be commemorating the International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB). A couple of agencies like the Biodiversity Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-BMB), together with the Deutsche Gesellschaftfür Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) will be mounting a “Selfie for Biodiversity and Sustainable Tourism 2017” photo competition. The contest will start from May 3 to May 15, 2017.

The IDBD is an international recognized event mandated by the UN (United Nations) as part of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which was signed and ratified on 1993. The pact was made to promote global awareness on biodiversity and its impact on worldwide ecosystem and how everyone should be involved in its protection. This year, they are going with the theme of "Biodiversity and Sustainable Tourism”. As I see, it's not that complicated because the photo contest will revolve around scenes showing efforts to sustain biodiversity. There are countless organizations and volunteer groups that have made this part of their lives and if you capture those moments about Philippine sustainable tourism, those Eco-tours, sights in the water, forests and wildlife, you could well win this.

Make sure you find unique plants or animals found in land, water, air. Be your own ecological hero and make this a great way to show your photography skills and help information dissemination about the cause. This is open to photographers 13 years old and above.

To join, you can use channels like Facebook or Instagram by liking the Biodiversity Challenge Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/biodiversitychallenge/ first and following the Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/selfieforbiodiversity. Then include a short description with the subject of the photo as your title, your name, age and the hashtag #selfieforbiodiversity2017 plus a short narrative of aboout 100 words on what biodiversity means to the person and how Filipinos can help conserve the Philippines rich biodiversity. Make sure you include your opinions on how YOU could take action and inspire others and perhaps the story on how the photo was shot. Your entries must be taken over the past year until the Selfie for Biodiversity contest event in May 2016. Do not submit previous entries anymore as it will be disqualified. You can only get this submitted from May 3, 2017 to noon of May 15, 2017 only, so don't be late!

The winner will get round trip airfare and accommodation for 2 (two) to any of the protected area or biodiversity areas under the jurisdiction of the DENR-BMB or a project site of the GIZ PAME Project (except the Islands of Batanes). If you want to know about these locations, just see here (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B27p-PoO0vdPQmlNN3NzOGktX0U). You will be sent a direct message if you win the contest. To see the complete contest mechanics and other details about the contest, please visit the Selfie for Biodiversity’s official Facebook or Instagram page or contact them via their phone number 02-426 0239, 02-441 8440. You can also email them at selfie.biodiversity.take2@gmail.com. Remember to post early so you can get chosen! I'll be posting my entries too so I can't wait to receive my prize! Hahaha!