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Home » Climate CoLab Contest: Seeking Proposals on Sustainable Land Use and Waste Management Practices

Climate CoLab Contest: Seeking Proposals on Sustainable Land Use and Waste Management Practices

Deadline: 10 September 2017

The Climate CoLab contest is inviting applicants to submit proposals on sustainable land use and waste management practices that can be effectively implemented and brought to scale, in order to address the challenges of global climate change.

The main question on which the proposals are to be submitted is: How can we scale-up sustainable landscape & waste management to significantly reduce emissions while ensuring food, water & energy security?

Key Issues

  • Agriculture
    Promising climate change mitigation options in the agriculture sector include:

    • restoration of cultivated organic soils,
    • improved cropland management,
    • integrated soil and water conservation,
    • nutrient management,
    • tillage/residue management,
    • water management,
    • agro-forestry,
    • agroecology,
    • diversified farming systems,
    • improved grazing land management,
    • increased landscape productivity,
    • restoration of degraded lands.
  • Forestry
    More specifically, there are many ways to reduce GHG emissions from sources and/or to increase GHG removals by carbon sinks in the forest sector using strategies ranging from local land management approaches to national and internationally policy. These include:

    • reducing deforestation and forest degradation,
    • reforestation and afforestation,
    • promoting agro-forestry, Sustainable Forest Management (SFM), and Reduced Impact Logging (RIL) (2),
    • promoting and enhancing traditional ecological knowledge in rural communities,
    • expanding operations under sustainable forest management certifications (e.g., Forest Stewardship Council),
    • increasing landscape level carbon density,
    • reducing consumption of deforestation drivers (e.g. palm oil, beef),
    • improving the supply chains of commercial agricultural commodities that can drive deforestation (e.g. initiatives under the UNDP Green Commodities Programme) (3),
    • increasing product and fuel substitution, as well as carbon stocks in wood products.
  • Livestock
    Promising climate mitigation options in the livestock sector include:

    • promoting land-use for livestock outside of tropical forests,
    • sustainable, rotational livestock pastures,
    • improved feeding practices,
    • animal husbandry and livestock health management,
    • integrated crop-livestock systems,
    • lowering livestock production and consumption,
    • promoting lower-footprint proteins including pulses, insects and aquaculture,
    • nutrient capture and recycling in manure management, and wider use of best practices and technologies.
  • Waste Management
    The IPCC outlines a range of possible strategies for reducing emissions from waste management, including:

    • landfilling with landfill gas recovery (reduces CH4 emissions);
    • waste minimization and post-consumer recycling (avoids waste generation and reduces emissions from the production process);
    • composting of selected waste fractions (avoids GHG generation); and recovery of biodegradable waste and
    • processes that reduce GHG generation compared to landfilling (thermal processes including incineration, pyrolysis and industrial co-combustion, Mechanical Biological Treatment or MBT with landfilling of residuals, and anaerobic digestion).

Prize Information

  • Judges’ Choice Award – Two proposals will be selected by the Judges to receive the Judges’ Choice– one project, and one practice.
  • Popular Choice Award – Received the most votes during the public voting period.
  • The Judges’ Choice Award and Popular Choice Award Winners will be invited to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), join the Climate CoLab winners’ alumni, and be eligible for the $10,000 Grand Prize to be selected from among the winners across contests.
  • All award Winners and Finalists will receive wide recognition and platform visibility from MIT Climate CoLab. Climate CoLab or its collaborators may offer additional awards or recognition at their discretion.

Eligibility Criteria

  • Climate CoLab is open to anyone in the world, regardless of age, nationality, gender identity, cultural identity, or political viewpoint.
  • If applicants are under 18 years old, they will need parent or legal guardian to register on the Climate CoLab website and submit proposal.

How to Apply

Applications must be submitted via given website.

For more information, please visit Climate CoLab.

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