KATHMANDU: World Bank and its partners, Global Environment Facility (GEF), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, awarded $4.8 million to 26 innovative ideas to save the planet gleaned through a global competition, Global Development Marketplace 2009.

This year's contest --100 Ideas to Save the Planet -- set a simple challenge: come up with one idea from your own community to help save the planet and its people from the effects of climate change. The ninth marketplace opened on November 10-13 in Washington DC of the United States of America. It featured 100 finalists from 47 countries selected from over 1,700 project proposals. The winning concepts announced yesterday Sunday will be implemented in East Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Two of this year's winners came from India. The DM award will help Greenfield Hydroponic Systems, Inc convert small plots of wasteland into hydroponic greenhouses, using solar and wind-powered technologies to produce green fodder year-round. It is expected to raise milk yields, calf birthweights and incomes in project areas.

Meanwhile, in the Bundelkhand region in central India, NGO Development Alternatives, business group Social Rural Direction and R K Swamy will use the DM grant to develop reality shows to guide people on how they can adapt to climate change, and reduce the risks.

"The Development Marketplace is an important part of our mission to break down funding barriers and promote innovative entrepreneurial ideas at the grass-roots level." said Monique Barbut, CEO and chairperson of Global Environment Facility (GEF). Winning ideas receive up to $200,000 in seed money, as well as guidance and technical support as projects move into implementation. More than this though, all participants benefit from being able to hone their project design skills; by participating in knowledge and skills development sessions designed to help make them better development practitioners on their return home-win or lose.

"Managing risks from climate change will require not only one hundred, but thousands of ideas from communities all over the world," said Katherine Sierra, vice-president of Sustainable Development at World Bank. "This year's contest was an opportunity to showcase the kind of creative thinking that can deliver tangible results in our work on climate adaptation. We will be watching how this year's 26 winners actually put their ideas into action."

Stand-out ideas

Serbia: SZTR Sunce's initiative to mitigate the effects of climate change induced bacterial blooms on commercial fishponds The Philippines: The University of the Philippines' (Los Baños) 'Bell and Bottle' initiative - providing a low cost, high efficacy flood and landslide warning system

Ecuador: International Network for Bamboo and Rattan's idea to build elevated bamboo houses, essentially lifting communities in flood zones out of harm's way.