On Friday, October 12, 2018, members of the jury of the Central Asian competition for the best media coverage of climate change issues met in Almaty to discuss the submissions of the participants and select the winners.
Throughout the month, the members of the jury carefully evaluated the submitted articles in accordance with the following criteria:
1. Compliance with the topics suggested for the competition.
2. Presence of climate change problematics.
3. Complex approach: comprehensive handling of the formulated problematics.
4. Relevance and timeliness for one of the Central Asian countries or the region as a whole.
5. Presence of arguments and opinions of two or more polemicizing stakeholders.
6. Accessibility and target audience-friendliness (media materials easily accessible to broader public).
7. Real life stories.
8. Pro-active approach: presence of suggested solutions to the problems described.
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Each member of the jury evaluated and provided a rating for each submitted entry of the competition. As a result, an average rating for every submission was calculated accordingly. A joint meeting of the jury members was held to finalize the outcomes and select the winners among the submitted articles that received the highest rating. During the discussion, the jury members exchanged views on the participants’ works. It became clear from the discussion that it would be challenging to limit the number of winners to five and therefore the jury made a decision to increase the number of prizes.
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Having thoroughly analyzed the submitted works, the members of the jury were finally ready to announce the names of the winners.
The following six winners of the Central Asian competition for the best media coverage of climate change issues were announced following the discussion:
Agalkhanova Marina, «Water resources of the region in the context of climate change and national action».
Amakov Kamarbek (Kamari Akhror), «Climate change: from harvest to economic losses.
Buyanov Sergey, «How the scientists help the farmers to save resources».
Ibraimov Bakyt, «Glacial melting may lead to conflicts».
Kasybekov Azamat, «Ecology or meat? Will the Kyrgyz people face a tough choice».
Shulepina Natalya, «How to save pasture lands on unirrigated lands in the conditions of climate change».
Congratulations to the winners of the competition!
On behalf of the organizers and the jury of the Central Asian competition for the best media coverage of climate change issues, we would like to thank all of the participants!
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Journalists, freelance contributors and bloggers from all of the Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) took part in the competition.
The winners of the competition will be awarded with an opportunity to attend the 24th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Climate Change (COP-24) in December 2018 in Katowice, Poland.
The participants have submitted over 60 entries for the consideration of the competition’s jury. Please refer to the full list of the submitted works.
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Members of the jury of the Central Asian competition for the best media coverage of climate change issues
UNESCO Cluster Bureau in Almaty. Kristine Tovmasyan is leading UNESCO Natural Sciences unit in Central Asia sub-region since 2014, based in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The bulk of her activities focuses on promoting sustainable development through greater scientific knowledge in Central Asia, emphasizing water resources management, disaster reduction and climate change, as well as UNESCO-designated sites programs, including Man and the Biosphere, Global Geoparks.
Communications Manager, Climate Action Network (CAN), EECCA (Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia). BA Environmental Engineering, MA Environment and Biodiversity. Tatiana Shauro works proactively in climate and energy field for the last five years; she is an active participant of UN climate negotiations since 2013. As a trainer, she conducts communications seminars for NGOs and local activists. She is also engaged in information promotion initiatives, helping to expand high quality coverage of climate change in the regional news and raising the profile of local news in the international media. Tatiana helps CAN members raise the awareness of decision-makers about the need to switch to renewable energy sources.
Scientific journalist, Scientific Communication online-course lecturer, ITMO University, RBK Communications Laboratory expert, editor of “Peremennaya” (Variable) project at Colta.ru. The first Russian scholar of Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT.
Research fellow, University of Central Asia. Maksim Kulikov graduated from the International University of Kyrgyzstan with a degree in environmental management and completed his PhD at the University of Hamburg. He has extensive experience working with various international environmental organizations, conducting field studies and research activities, attended many international conferences and co-authored several scientific articles focused on modeling the interaction between vegetation, soil and climate.
Communications specialist, ЛИВЕНЬ.Living.Asia, environmental journalist. Dina Nee has experience of working on regional projects, she is a proactive participant of environmental conferences and forums, took part in the work of organizational committee of Dmitriy Tereshkovich scholarship, works with Ecoforum of non-governmental organizations of Kazakhstan. Dina Nee holds BA Communications from Université Lyon.
Director of the Youth environmental center of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, coordinator of the NGO Network on climate change, Tajikistan, PhD Geology and Mineralogy. Yuri Skochilov is a member of the Public Council under the Interstate Commission for the Sustainable Development of Central Asia (ICSD). His main field of activity is education for sustainable development, sustainable management of natural resources, assessment of climate risks and vulnerabilities, adaptation to climate change, rural development and promotion of renewable energy sources. He worked as a consultant on climate change-related projects implemented by the international development banks, helped to develop methodologies for adaptation planning and the development of the pilot LAPA (Local Action Plan for Adaptation) in Tajikistan, participated in the creation of Knowledge Management Platform and a Network for Environmentally Sustainable Land Management. Yuri Skochilov is also a member of the working group on drafting the National Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change in Tajikistan.
Chairman, Ecoforum of NGOs of Uzbekistan, deputy chairman of the executive committee of the Central Kengash, Environmental Movement of Uzbekistan, acting Head of the Executive Committee staff. Professor of Philosophy Department of Tashkent University of Information Technologies. Dr. Sanginov is an author of over 200 scientific and methodical publications, including 4 monographs and 2 textbooks. Among his publications are articles in scientific journals addressing broad variety of issues of sustainable development of the Central Asian region, environmental problems of the Aral Sea basin, introduction of renewable energy sources, development of NGOs in Uzbekistan and other environmental journalism issues.
Public relations advisor, Aarhus Convention Center, Turkmenistan, since 2012. Viktoriya Akopova has been engaged in environmental monitoring for over 25 years. Her main areas of interest include environmental monitoring, climate change, greenhouse gas inventory, education and awareness for sustainable development. For many years, she has been involved in various national and regional projects, environmental initiatives carried out with the support of international organizations. Member of the working group on the inventory of greenhouse gases, she had participated in the preparation of three National Reports on the UNFCCC, as well as the development of the National Strategy of Turkmenistan on climate change. Member of the Public Council under the Interstate Commission for the Sustainable Development of Central Asia (ICSD).
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Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Program for Aral Sea Basin (CAMP4ASB)
