Water is one of the big environmental themes and it’s becoming increasingly important in discussions as the issue of scarcity poses a serious threat to sustainability in the 21st century.
With this issue in mind, an organization called travel2change has launched a worldwide innovation contest to identify and fund the most creative ideas or proposals for improving the sustainable management of water in travel destinations.
Proposals can be submitted for any travel destination in any country and should fit in the health, environment, education and sport categories. The ideas pool section of the website gives an idea of what people have people logging on the travel2change social network-style website.
The idea is “to generate meaningful and sustainable proposals about how travelers can make a positive impact on the lives of local communities. The interaction between travelers and host communities is encouraged in order to do something “with” as well as “for” the locals. The emphasis is on sustainable project ideas that rethink travel around the theme of water”, the organizers of the competition say.
The contestant with the best idea on each category will be awarded a trip to the country chosen for the project proposal along with support so that their idea can actually become a reality. An additional participant, chosen to have made the most valuable contributions and comments, will be able to join whichever winning trip they choose from the four categories.
The deadline for the first contest is July 10. The ideas will be evaluated on the basis of of creativity, effectiveness, impact, feasibility and sustainability.
We’ll be watching this space to see if anyone combines alternative energy and water conservation.
Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.
