Asia-wide photography contest on nature and environment on

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna, Philippines – An Asian photography contest focusing on nature and the environment is on.

Contestants have until Nov. 30 to submit their entries in the contest billed, “Capture the value of nature: The economic and socio-cultural value of the environment.”

Sponsor of the competition is the Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia, administratively under WorldFish, with headquarters in Penang, Malaysia. EEPSEA has a national (Philippine) office in the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) based in the University of the Philippines in Los Baños (UPLB).

EEPSEA was established in May 1993 to support research and training in environment and resource economics. Its goal is to strengthen capacity in the economic analysis of environmental issues so that research can provide sound advice to policymakers.

“We at EEPSEA work towards putting an economic value on the services provided by nature so that we can help decision-makers make informed decisions about the use and management of natural resources. Through our work, we aim to show the economic and socio-cultural value of nature to society,” EEPSEA stated.

The photographs to be entered in the contest should answer the following questions: How does damaging nature affect people and their livelihood? And how does protecting the environment help people?

“Photos capturing the above on both marine/coastal and terrestrial ecosystems are welcome,” EEPSEA said.

The competition is open to those from the EEPSEA member-countries: Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Each photo submitted should indicate, in English, the photographer's name and nationality; clear caption conveying the circumstances in which the photo was taken; town, province, and country where photo was taken; and day, month, and year when it was taken.

Each photographer can submit as many entries provided he/she is giving EEPSEA and its country institutes full permission to use photographs submitted in any of its knowledge products, with credit to the photographer.

The entries should not have won in previous photo contests. They should be original and not digitally altered except through simple cropping, and should not be watermarked.

The criteria in the selection of the winners are relevance in theme (35 percent), impact/viewer's response (35 percent) and technical quality (25 percent).

The entries should be submitted to http://goo.gl/dxos4U. Winners will be notified by e-mail. Winning photos will be showcased at www.eepsea.org.