YOUTH CONTEST 1998 - 1999

NATIONAL RESULTS SUMMARY

ENERGY EFFICIENCY & RENEWABLE ENERGIES

The second edition of the national and international youth contest has just ended. This project has been successful, despite the impossibility of managing a relevant quantity of funds. We are very satisfied with the results achieved.

Throughout this initiative each Green Cross National Organization managed to increase the dissemination on communication in its own country.

In the specific educational area, hundreds of thousands of students have been involved and thousands of teachers have been contacted and have therefore had the chance to appreciate the Green Cross contents. Many of these teachers will continue to keep in touch with their Green Cross National Organization and will continue to react to their initiatives.

Another concrete result is the reinforcement of the relationships with the institutions. It increases the credibility and the reliability of the whole Green Cross organization. Several economic actors have been contacted by the national organizations to carry out the initiative and a lot of them have answered positively, contributing to the success of the contest with a small financial contribution or through the supply of different services (postal services, flight tickets, etc..).

Some countries have centered the initiative on the Earth Charter program. Others have not. Anyway, the initiative managed to touch three of the Green Cross programs: the Environmental Education and Communication Program, the Energy Program and the Earth Charter Program.

Eight countries participated this year:

• ARGENTINA: A new entry, Green Cross Argentina managed to contact more than 500 schools all over Argentina, concentrating its efforts mainly on the province of Buenos Aires. 350 schools answered in a positive way, even though the renewable energy topic is not always strong in the country (some areas are very poor and lacking of any sort of interest towards renewable energy). Nearly 4,000 students participated actively. A good result since this was the first edition of the contest in Argentina. The Ministry of Culture and Education and the Secretariat of Natural Resources and for Sustainable Development (an organism of the Presidency of the Republic) have given their patronage to the initiative. The national prize ceremony has been held during the environmental "tour" organized for the winners of the three categories. Extremely enthusiastic of how the work proceeded, they are already taking contacts with a sponsor for the third edition. GC Argentina is one of the countries that have directly worked with us on the uniformed communication. We have received very interesting works, especially in the third category, full of creative innovations.

• BURKINA FASO: GC Burkina Faso has managed to obtain the patronage the Minister of the State, of the Environment and of Water in this year's edition. In addition the Ministry of Energy and Mines, and the Ministry of Public Instruction and Alphabetizing accepted to collaborate. They have also involved several sponsors: MAERSK, the Royal Embassy of Denmark, Total, CNNS. They have worked mainly in some provinces, reconfirming last year's success, especially in the final prize ceremony. Just as last year, GC Burkina Faso adopted the uniformed communication. The topic was well grounded in all students: even very small children managed to synthesize it in an incredibly expressive way.

• COTE D'IVOIRE: Another new entry, GC Cote d'Ivoire has successfully carried out the national contest reinforcing its contacts with the institutions. The contest has been launched on March 18 together with the Ministry of Environment and Forests, the Ministry of Education and of Basic Training and the Ministry of Energy. The Ministry of Mine Resources and Petroleum and the Ministry of Family and Women Promotion also accepted to patronage the initiative. Several sponsors have also been involved: Radio Nostalgie, RTI, SODEFOR. In addition, the contest has been a good chance of spreading the Green Cross organization in the country. The final ceremony has been held in the beginning of July with the Ministry of the Environment. Also GC Cote d'Ivoire has joined the uniformed communication. Many students worked on the deforestation topic (linked to wood energy) showing a very high sensibility and very clear ideas.

• CZECH REPUBLIC: This edition of the contest, just as last year's, has been a success for GC Czech Republic. They have first of all realized some publications for the teachers and for the students. Also this year the final ceremony was held in the Senate Palace and it was followed by an exhibition of the best works. The ceremony was accompanied by a musical performance and by a short speech of the Minister of the Environment. Artistic and innovative works reached the final selection.

• KOREA: GC Korea has successfully concluded the fourth edition of its national Environmental Contest. The final ceremony was held on the 6th of June involving the Ministry of Environment, other VIPs and about 400 students with their parents. As last year, Green Cross Korea has managed to send us works outstanding for their communicative ability and for their quality.

• ITALY: The 21st of March was the final deadline of the seventh edition of our national contest. The President of the Republic, the Presidents of the Chambers, seven Ministries (Public Instruction, Environment, Foreign Affairs, Arts and Culture, Agriculture, Industry, Social Solidarity) and several institutes (Unesco, FAO, Unicef, Red Cross International) accepted to patron our initiative. Banca di Roma, Alitalia, Seldat, Mediaset, Castalia Ecolmar, FS have helped our initiative this year as well with their sponsorship. Nearly 40,000 students have been involved in the energy topic and nearly 1,000 have worked on the winning works. As usual the cash prizes will be allocated to small environmental projects (up to now we have helped 120 of these micro-projects through the contest). Local and national newspapers (more than 300 articles) and TV channels have widely covered the initiative. The national prize ceremony will be held in October. The success reached in the past editions has been widely reconfirmed. A very strong communication and original colors and techniques characterized most of our works.

• HUNGARY: GC Hungary, together with the Ministry of Environment and other institutions such as the Hungarian Hydrological Society, has worked on the water subject "water, as a life-giving and destroying element" because of the recent floods that occurred in the country. This topic allowed a wider participation to this year's edition of the contest in Hungary: 1,300 works were submitted from every part of the country with a large scale of themes and variety of techniques. Obviously, a part of the topic was focused on the energy of water. 160 works, chosen among the best ones, have been exposed so to represent the diversity. The exposition opening and the national prize ceremony took place on the occasion of the World Environmental Day, on June 5, at Szeged, in the Gyula Teachers Training College. The jury, made of well-known art historians, has awarded 6 works in each age group and some extra works difficult to categorize. A special diploma and a special prize were also given to those schools that had carried out a good background study. First prizes were a free participation to summer environmental camps. The success of the competition and the enthusiastic remarks in the catalogue of the exhibition encouraged Green Cross Hungary to exhibit the 160 selected works in the capital and in various towns organizing the initiative as a travelling exposition. The international jury has evaluated very colorful and artistic drawings of extremely high quality.

• RUSSIA: The contest, devoted to energy and its saving, was held in several areas of the country: Ryazan, Vladimir, Vladivostok, Moscow and Shchuch'ye. Drawings, poster and comic strips were allowed. Each province organized its contest and all the winners have then been collected in Moscow for the national jury. Some provinces also arranged an exhibition of all the works they had received. In Moscow the contest opening was held on May 29 in the exhibition hall. Professor Moiseev, President of Green Cross Russia, opened the ceremony cutting the ribbon, and presented the jury members: artists, designers, environmental journalists and activists. The local prize ceremony was held on occasion of the World Environmental Day, June 5. It began with a quiz for the exhibition participants and guests on issues concerning energy saving and alternative energy sources. Winners were then announced and prizes were given. All participants also received small presents. TV covered the ceremony. JSC "Russian General Energy Net" provided financial assistance. Some pictures of the winning drawings have been published in the Russian environmental journal "Svirel". Very artistic works reached the final selection.

This occasion will be the best framework for launching the third edition of the contest. To make this possible it is necessary to share common goals and a common subject for next year's edition. We think that it is necessary to harmonize strictness and flexibility in order to allow the largest participation and success for every national organization. The subject must be wide enough to give every country the chance to adapt to their needs. We have realized a consultation among all the countries that have participated to this year's and last year's editions and those who would like to join next year to be sure to choose a topic suitable for every country. The two main proposals we have received focused on wastes (ways of reducing, recycling and pre-recycling) and on soil-earth-ecosystems (characteristics, preservation and recovering). Since we have touched the themes of water and fire (as energy) in the past two editions, I think we should consider earth as a possible topic - earth meant as the ecosystem where communities live, earth meant as biosphere. Besides animals and vegetables, ecosystems are also made of man and mankind activities that can even change ecosystems, sometimes in a dramatic way. Some national organizations are particularly involved in the desertification process (Burkina Faso), in the legacy of the cold war (Russia), and in the hydro-geological instabilities (Argentina and Hungary). Not to mention the strong relationship that every community has with its nature, ecosystems are also made of positive historic and cultural presence of mankind. Therefore it is important for the students to know, describe, love and protect and maybe even plan possible ways of recovering the ecosystem they live in, with their community. In summary, I believe that the best topic would be "This land is my land". This can be taken as a general topic and each country can then decide a sub-title according to its needs.

Elio Pacilio

Executive Director

Green Cross Italy

Earth Charter Youth Contest Coordinator