NEPA To Award Top Photos In World Wetlands Day Competition

The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) will award the best images in its recent World Wetlands Day Digital Photo Competition, during a ceremony on Thursday (March 3) at the Institute of Jamaica at 10-16 East Street, Kingston.

World Wetlands Day was observed on February 2.

Public Relations Officer at NEPA, Deleen Powell, told JIS News that each year, NEPA collaborates with the several partner agencies to mark the international observance and to raise awareness about Jamaica’s wetlands.

These include the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), Forestry Department, Airports Authority of Jamaica, Fisheries Division, and the Caribbean Coastal Area Foundation (CCAM).

“This year, one of the activities we engaged in was a photo competition that was open to amateurs and professionals and for them to take a photo of a wetland that depicts it being used in a sustainable manner,” she explained.

These include wetlands as a source of food or income, a means of ecotourism, or as a habitat and nursery.

Miss Powell informed that 69 entries were received. The person with the winning image will receive $50,000; second place, $30,000; and third place, $20,000.

Miss Powell said the photo competition proved to be a good teaching and learning exercise about wetlands and their importance.

“Because they (photographers) wanted to know the best way that they could go about representing exactly what we were asking for, they actually had to educate themselves through our portals and do research on the sustainable use of wetlands, so that they could capture that in their photos,” she pointed out.

She said that not only were the photographers sensitised, but also members of the public, who viewed the images on NEPA’s social media platform.

World Wetland Day marks the anniversary of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention) in Iran on February 2, 1971.