The Royal African Society is delighted and proud to have been invited to be a Nominator for The Earthshot Prize, launched by Prince William, Prince of Wales and Sir David Attenborough on 1 November this year.

 

Full details of the prize can be found on the Earthshot Prize website.

 

Climatic, economic and demographic changes are having a dramatic impact on Africa, and these changes are likely to accelerate in the future. This is one reason the Royal African Society has decided to make action on climate change a major theme for our 120^th Anniversary in 2021. Promoting projects for The Earthshot Prize is an integral part of that effort.

 

The Earthshot Prize is the most prestigious global environment prize in history, aiming to find new solutions to the world’s biggest environmental problems. Over 100 organisations from across the world have been invited to submit nominations of proposals that will deliver the most impactful solutions across all sectors, from grassroots to businesses.

 

There are five Prizes, one for each of the five Earthshots, simple but ambitious goals which if achieved by 2030 will improve life for all of us, for generations to come:

 

• ‘Protect and restore nature’,
• ‘Clean our air’,
• ‘Revive our oceans’,
• ‘Build a waste-free world’ and
• ‘Fix our climate’,

 

Details of each goal are set out on the Earthshot website.

 

The RAS is seeking nominations for projects that aim to generate new ways of thinking, as well as new technologies, systems, policies and solutions in any one or several of the above areas. We are open to nominating individuals, communities, NGOs, businesses, partnerships or other organisations whose solutions make the most progress towards achieving these goals, which themselves link to the UN’s agreed Sustainable Development Goals

 

There is a 5-stage prize process to select a winner for each Earthshot:

 

1. Nominations: We need to submit our nominations by 31 January 2021.
2. Screening: Nominations will be screened as part of an independent assessment process run by Deloitte, our implementation partner.
3. Shortlist: A distinguished panel of experts will support the judging process, making recommendations to The Earthshot Prize Council by the summer
4. Selection: Prince William and The Earthshot Prize Council select our five winners.
5. Awards: The winners of The Earthshot Prize will be announced at an awards ceremony, which will take place in different cities across the world each year between 2021 and 2030.

 

Each year there will be five Awards of £1 million each, to be used to promote and develop the solutions proposed. The winners will be provided with a global platform and prestigious profile, with their stories being showcased over the decade so that they can be widely emulated, copied and adopted.. Shortlisted nominees will also be given tailored support and opportunities to help scale their work, including being connected with likeminded individuals and organisations.

 

If you wish to make a proposal to the Royal African Society for nomination,

please send it by 15 January 2021 to:

 

The Director, Royal African Society, ras@soas.ac.uk, headed ‘The Earthshot Prize: [proposal name],

 

It will be most helpful if you can provide the following information about your proposed solution:

 

• Clearly identify the problem you are seeking to solve and which Earthshot(s) it is aimed at;
• A short summary of the proposal in a few sentences (not more than 100 words if possible)
• Explain how the proposal will be game-changing, have a significant positive impact and be scaleable to apply more widely in the world (in less than 500 words)
• Set out briefly what you would do to implement the solution if you have the resources to do so.

 

We look forward to making a successful nomination – and hope it will be yours!