On the sidelines of his participation in the UN Climate Action Summit 2019, His Excellency Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment, attended the UN Youth Climate Summit, the first such summit that aims to provide a platform for young leaders to share their solutions with the world and meaningfully engage with decision-makers.
In a meeting with Jayathma Wickramanayake, the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, His Excellency Dr Al Zeyoudi announced that the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) is launching the #ItAffectsYou video competition, in cooperation with Majid Al Futtaim Group, the Emirati owner and operator of various shopping malls and leisure establishments in the Middle East and North Africa, Twitter, and Globally Great, the first video sharing platform focused on sustainability around the world.
The global competition challenges young men and women between the ages of 18 and 35 to produce a compelling video that is up to two minutes long and depicts the impacts of climate change, or alternatively, showcases a promising effort to counter these adverse impacts.
His Excellency Dr Al Zeyoudi said: “The competition aims to highlight the very real climate change threat and encourage youth engagement in spreading the word. The creative video submissions from participants will help more people understand the urgency of climate action and persuade them to join the climate action bandwagon.”
Stefanie Schachtschabel, Managing Partner at Globally Great, said: “What an imaginative way to give young people from around the world the opportunity to share their hopes, dreams and fears about climate change! At Globally Great, we are excited to join the Ministry in this initiative, and can’t wait to watch and host the inspirational videos that this competition will generate. We wish all the aspirants the very best of luck.”
To help the competition get the attention it deserves, Twitter today launched a dedicated emoji for the competition. The emoji is unlocked when the hashtag #ItAffectsYou is tweeted on the social platform, showing the globe with a heart symbol held up by two hands.
Participants need to upload their videos to the Globally Great platform (www.globallygreat.com) as well as share them via their Twitter accounts using the hashtag #ItAffectsYou and tagging @MoCCaEUAE by November 30, 2019.
MOCCAE will announce the winners on its Twitter page on or before January 10, 2020. The first-place winner will be awarded a trip to the UAE and a hosted visit to the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2020, as well as leading sustainability and clean energy sites. Furthermore, Twitter will offer the winner a Twitter Ads for Good grant that enables him/her to promote their content and account on Twitter, further enhancing awareness of the cause.
Second- and third-place winners of the video competition will receive the Canon EOS R mirrorless digital camera and the Canon EOS 6D Mark II camera respectively.