Announcing the Winners of the 2021 Climatelinks Photo Contest!
The 2021 Climatelinks photo contest was a huge success! We received more than 100 stunning submissions from the Climatelinks community, representing more than 22 countries.
All of this year’s submissions can be found on the Climatelinks photo gallery. Anyone can view the photo contest submissions, as well as photos from our blogs and USAID’s climate change programs around the world. Visitors may also submit their own photos to the gallery. We hope the gallery will serve as a resource for the entire community.
Congratulations to this year’s 13 winners! Thanks to everyone who participated in the contest!
From Stay-at-Home Mom to Successful Farmer
Image
Long periods of drought and lack of irrigation caused significant losses to this farmer’s crops. Diversifying from maize to amaranth, enabled Ruth to increase her income and adapt to climate change challenges.
Credit: Alexander Hernández
Country: Guatemala
Forest Patrollers in the Philippines Using USAID and DENR Innovation
Image
The forest area of the Philippines has declined significantly since 1960. Threats such as uncontrolled swidden farming and illegal logging increase vulnerability to disasters. Lawin patrollers address and record threats and help educate communities on more sustainable practices. The Lawin system is now an integral part of forest patrollers' daily work.
Credit: Blue Motus
Country: Philippines
Pollution in Lake Victoria
Image
Lake Victoria supports the largest freshwater fishery in the world. In Luzira Port Bell in Kampala, Uganda, chemicals, plastic bottles and old fishing nets pollute the world’s largest tropical lake, and invasive water hyacinths clog it.
Credit: Diana Njeru 'deepicted'
Country: Uganda
Climate Refugees in Malawi
Image
Musago Mirida is a Burundian refugee who fled to Malawi to escape violent conflict stemming in part from competition over scarce natural resources. Living in the Dzaleka Refugee Camp, she depends on food assistance, such as this rice. In Malawi, USAID partners with the World Food Programme to provide in-kind food and cash transfers for food to approximately 42,000 vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers.
Credit: Badre Bahaji
Country: Malawi
Organization: USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance/World Food Programme
Teaching Farmers New Methods for Drought Tolerance
Image
Droughts and floods occur with increasing frequency in Zimbabwe, and small-scale farmers who depend on rain-fed agriculture are hit the hardest by the unpredictable weather cycles. Smallholder farmers are learning to plant drought-tolerant fodder crops to feed their animals.
Credit: Dooshima Tsee/Catholic Relief Services
Country: Zimbabwe
Organization: Catholic Relief Services
Paramos People
Image
The Guambianos Indigenous people are working to protect and conserve the Paramos Ecosystem in Colombia, which stores carbon in the ground. Changes in cattle and agriculture and payments for environmental services help the Colombian State meet their commitments to the Paris Agreement.
Credit: Juan Carlos Gómez
Country: Colombia
Project: USAID Paramos and Forests Activity
Firewood
Image
Collecting firewood is a daily task for most women in Puros Village, Kaokoland, Kunene Region, Namibia. Adapting to the harsh desert climate means the search for firewood is more and more wide-ranging as it becomes scarcer, forcing women to walk farther from the village.
Credit: Dr. David J. McDonald
Country: Namibia
Artisanal Fishermen Casting Nets
Image
To mitigate the impacts of climate change and resource depletion in the Imiría Regional Conservation Area in the Peruvian Amazon, artisanal fishermen from four neighboring Indigenous communities, local and regional authorities, and experts in the field are joining efforts to sustainably manage and govern natural resources in this regional conservation area.
Credit: Gustavo Carrasco / USAID Pro-Bosques
Country: Peru
Project: USAID Pro-Bosques
On the Job: An Informal Waste Collector in the Dominican Republic
Image
Waste contained in open dumps contaminates the air, rivers, bays, and groundwater systems. Approximately 80% of plastic waste ends up in these landfills and escapes out to the sea, contributing to the growing ocean plastic pollution. USAID Clean Cities, Blue Oceans has secured millions of pounds of waste from leaking into the environment by remediating and closing open dumps in Samana, Dominican Republic.
Credit: Jon Angin
Country: Dominican Republic
Project: USAID Clean Cities, Blue Ocean
Land Titles Downstream Will Protect Forests Upstream
Image
Making the irrigation system more climate-resilient includes securing land titles for water users and paying upstream communities for conserving the forests that provide water to the irrigation system. Unseasonable droughts and unpredictable rainfall can now be better managed and farmers can more reliably grow rice and other crops.
Credit: chhengsambo
Country: Cambodia
Project: USAID Greening Prey Lang
Drought Resistant Maize for Food Security
Image
Farming in Lokokoi, Karamoja, Uganda is a difficult task in an agricultural area with increasingly inconsistent rainfall. Harvests are vulnerable to dry spells and severe flooding, which can destroy crops, leading to food shortages. Drought-resistant crops and improved agricultural techniques greatly improve the productivity of the land.
Credit: Ezra Millstein
Country: Uganda
Organization: Mercy Corps
Seeing is Believing
Image
A woman potato farmer in Purba Burdwa District, West Bengal, India, where a USAID-PepsiCo partnership is empowering women in the potato supply chain and promoting the use of sustainable and regenerative farming practices to improve potato yields and profitability for rural farmers.
Credit: Mr. Bijay Choudhury, USAID ILRG
Country: India
Project: USAID Integrated Land and Resource Governance (ILRG) program
Brick Workers
Image
Workers carry piles of bricks on their heads in a brick factory in Narayanganj, Bangladesh. Brick kilns emit large quantities of environmental pollutants into the atmosphere, causing harmful impact on agricultural yields, climate, and health.
Credit: Joy Saha
Country: Bangladesh
Steve Hardeman
Stephan Hardeman is the Site and Community Manager for Climatelinks. He draws on more than three years of experience in communications for international environmental trust funds to support Climatelinks through USAID’s Sharing Environment and Energy Knowledge (SEEK) initiative by engaging the Climatelinks community and featuring its work. Stephan has MAs in International Affairs (American University) and Natural Resources and Sustainable Development (United Nations University for Peace) and BAs in English and Anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin.