Prince Williams announces Earthshot prize to help 'repair the Earth', pledges at least 50 solutions by 2030

The Duke of Cambridge, Prince William, has introduced a new climate award – the Earthshot prize. It aims to encourage naturalists, scientists, businessmen, teachers, students and anyone else, from all over the world, to find ways to create or develop technology that can be used to solve the pressing issues faced by Earth.The name of the prize, Earthshot, is by the speech given by US president John F Kennedy at the joint session of Congress where he spoke about developing technology and promoting an ambitious space program. He also spoke about going to the moon and the moonshot was seen as a challenge that has propelled the US into becoming the leaders of what we now know as the 'space race.'[caption id="attachment_7850031" align="alignnone" width="1280"]

Prince William at the a glacier in the Hindu Kush mountain range. Image credit: Instagram/ Kensington Royal/The Duchess of Cambridge[/caption]The concept of a moonshot, according to the Earthshot website, since the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, has come to signify the 'most ambitious and ground-breaking goals'.The Earthshot is a challenge to get everyone to work together to find solutions to the ongoing climate crisis this decade.“The Earth is at a tipping point and we face a stark choice: either we continue as we are and irreparably damage our planet or we remember our unique power as human beings and our continual ability to lead, innovate and problem-solve,” says Prince William in a tweet.

New challenges will be announced during significant events. These challenges will be based on problems like the climate crisis, energy, nature, air, water, etc. The competition will not be restricted to any particular group of people or a single sector. It will be a true free-for-all challenge.Aspiring competitors can work as individuals, team or an organisation, and five winners will be selected for the award, which will also include a ‘significant award prize.’ This will be an annual competition and will continue throughout the decade.By 2030, the organisers hope to have, at least, 50 solutions to help repair and save the planet. The award ceremony will take place every year in different cities and the first one will be held in 2021.“People can achieve great things. And the next ten years presents us with one of our greatest tests — a decade of change to repair the Earth”, said Prince William on the website.The prize will officially be launched later this year. This year is significant as there will be a number of important summits that will be taking place like the Convention on Biodiversity in China in February and the COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in November.The award will initially be run by The Royal Foundation, a charity run by the Prince and his wife Kate Middleton, and might later on, become an independent organisation. According to BBC, more than 60 organisations and experts were consulted in the development of the prize.David Attenborough, British natural history broadcaster has shown his support towards this project by narrating the film that was released during the launch of this prize.