The Dresden Institute of the United Nations University UNU-FLORES and the Dresden Technology Collections are currently presenting the photo and video exhibition "Sustainability Stories". It is the result of a global competition that showcases images and stories about the state of sustainable development.
Dresden, 27 July 2021 - The degradation of natural resources represents one of the most critical environmental megatrends worldwide and is of great concern to the United Nations and its member states. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development reflects this concern in a variety of indicators across all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
To explore the resource nexus and sustainability in images as part of the UN Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development 2021, UNU-FLORES and the Dresden Technology Collections (TSD) invited both amateurs and professionals to capture their perspectives on the resource nexus and sustainability in images and text. More than 150 photographers and videographers from almost 40 countries took part, around three quarters of them from the Global South. The shortlisted entries highlight the connections between the natural resources of water, soil, air, forests and food, the circular economy, climate change and biodiversity.
"The photo and video exhibits tell a story of action and advocacy for sustainable development. We hope that the diverse perspectives of talents from around the world will continue to inspire visitors to the exhibition to reflect and take action for the planet," says UNU-FLORES Director Prof Edeltraud Guenther.
"The photographs and videos submitted by artists from all over the world show that we are united by the consequences of the climate catastrophe and the overexploitation of natural resources, but also by the hope that people will deal with the riches of our planet in a sustainable way," adds TSD Director Roland Schwarz.
The works of the seven award winners in the photography and video categories as well as 15 other positions can be seen in the exhibition until 26 September. Roland Schwarz (Director, TSD), Prof Edeltraud Guenther (Director, UNU-FLORES) and Andreas Völlings (Saxon State Ministry for Energy, Climate Protection, Environment and Agriculture, SMEKUL) opened the exhibition as part of the Museum Night Dresden 2021.
The competition jury consisted of the award-winning sustainability photographer Lucas Foglia, Roland Schwarz (Director, TSD) and Atiqah Fairuz Salleh (Communications & Advocacy Lead, UNU-FLORES).
The winners of the competition are Alexei Sachov (Ukraine), Ziaul Huque (Bangladesh) and Iqro Rinaldi (Indonesia) in the photography category and Angie (Germany), Shriya Shruti Misra (India), Jean-Michel Rolland (France) and Uttam Kamati (India) in the video category.
The exhibition complements the exhibition "Cloud 8: The Climate and Us" in the Dresden Technology Collections and will also be part of the Umundu Festival (24 to 26 September 2021), which deals with the global phenomenon of climate change in terms of development policy.
This initiative is supported by the Saxon State Ministry for Energy, Climate Protection, Environment and Agriculture (SMEKUL) as part of the Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations University (UNU).
