30 DESIGN CLIMATE ACTION – International Design Competition Design Climate Action is an international design competition that aims to encourage the creation of innovative solutions by younger creatives, for a more prosperous and sustainable future. Its objective is to raise awareness about SDG#13 (climate action: take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts) and the necessity of urgent action among the young and upcoming professionals of creative disciplines and contribute to its implementation through identifying, showcasing and promoting creative ideas that support global shift to sustainable and efficient future. Inspired by the competition brief, UJ BA Honours Industrial Design students (Groups of 3) were tasked to reflect on “what can be done to combat climate change and its effects on all the levels of our lives?” In line with the tasks and targets set by SDG#13, projects for the competition had to relate to one of the following categories: Raising Resilience and Adaptation – develop technologies to strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climaterelated hazards and natural disasters. Energy of Change – offer solutions able to mitigate and reverse climate change caused by burning fossil fuels and promote ways of generating power that emit little to no greenhouse gases or pollutants. Solutions Offered by Nature – offer projects that involve conserving, restoring, or better-managing ecosystems to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Swift Guard The Public Vote prize of €2000 was awarded to UJ Industrial Design BA Honours students: Tshepiso Motau, Tsebo Mokwena and Bongeka Buthelezi, for their Swiftguard Early Flood Warning System project. In response to the pressing need for climate action and sustainable development, particularly in regions vulnerable to climate-related hazards like floods, SwiftGuard is an early flood alarm warning system concept for the eThekwini District in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) focusing on the area closer to the Umgeni River. The SwiftGuard concept integrates advanced sensor technologies with real-time data collection, data analysis and communication capabilities to provide timely and accurate flood warnings to residents and authorities in the eThekwini District. The system comprises a telemetry buoy, which
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