LEGAZPI CITY --- In an effort to draw public attention to the protection and conservation of the environment, a delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines, in partnership with the Philippine Center for Photojournalism, Inc., has launched a nationwide photo contest on the “climate change in the country”.

        Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, head of the Delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines, said that the photo contest is being launched in line with the European Union’s commitment to address the global challenge of climate change.

        MacDonald said that the photo contest in the Philippines would help draw public attention to the challenge of climate change and the need for global and local action to address the issue for the sake of the upcoming generations.

        The European Union has been a key player in the international effort to address the twin problems of climate change and global warming. The EU has already committed itself to reducing its overall emissions to at least 20 percent below l990 levels by 2020 and is ready to scale up this reduction to as much as 30 percent under a new global climate change agreement.

        The photo contest on “Climate Change” is open to all Filipino photojournalists and photography enthusiasts. Eligible for entries are photographs published or unpublished and taken in the Philippines from June 2007 to November 2008 covering the theme “Climate Change in the Philippines”.

        The winning photographs will be displayed in universities and malls in Metro Manila.

        The provincial government of Albay led by Gov. Joey Salceda which pioneered the proto-type climate change adaptation and mitigation response campaign in the country is conducting massive reforestation and public awareness program for the protection of the environment as a gift to the upcoming generations.

        Salceda also entered into a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Education to include in the elementary and secondary curriculum the relevance of environment protection and conservation.

        The climate change adaptation program of Salceda is the governing policy of the province, as embodied in the Albay Declaration on Climate Change which is also aimed at targeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the United Nations.