PASIG CITY -- The Department of Education (DepEd) and Climate Science Community Philippines (CSCPH) are encouraging learners with brilliant solutions to pressing climate problems to join this year’s ClimateScience Olympiad.

Adopted locally through the partnership of DepEd’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Service (DRRMS) and CSCPH, the ClimateScience Olympiad is a global competition for young people aged 14 to 25 to test their knowledge and creativity in providing solutions to real-life climate change challenges.

“We believe in the power of youth to create innovative and sustainable solutions to fight climate change. This will be a great platform for our learners and personnel to showcase their problem-solving skills in climate-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) challenges,” DepEd Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones said.

The competition has three rounds: Qualifiers, Semi-Finals, and Finals. The qualifiers will run until September 2021, with more than 10,000 participants competing by answering one of three problem statements within an allotted time of three hours. The top 5% of participants will advance to the global semi-finals, where they will answer another problem statement.

The top 50 participants will then advance to the final round, which, depending on COVID restrictions, may be held physically in Glasgow, United Kingdom, or online. Finalists will be invited to the United Nations Climate Summit (COP26), and the top three winners will win a share of the USD10,000 prize pool.

The local online qualifiers for Filipino participants will be held on the following dates: July 17 (Saturday, 9 am - 1 pm), July 17 (Saturday, 1 pm - 5 pm), and August 14 (Saturday, 1 pm - 5 pm).

Interested participants may compete for either solo or as a pair, and may join up to three qualifiers (maximum 1 qualifier in a month) through this link: bit.ly/CSCPHOlympiadSignup. Registration for each qualifier will close 10 days before the event.

Organizations or groups of at least 15 teams may also opt to run their private qualifiers by sending an email to climatescienceph@gmail.com, with the name of their organization and preferred schedule.

The Olympiad is organized by ClimateScience, an international volunteer youth-led non-profit organization registered in the UK, with local communities in about 30 countries, including the Philippines. The organization envisions a sustainable future by promoting solution-focused education that catalyzes climate action.

For more information on the ClimateScience Olympiad qualifiers, please visit bit.ly/CSPHOlympiad2021. (DepEd)