2006 Eco-Schools News

   
"Environment and Innovation" is an exciting new project to encourage Eco-Schools to come up with innovative and creative solutions to environmental problems while focussing on sustainable community development. The core theme of the project for 2005-2007 is sustainable mobility. Schools propose concrete project plans, which will be judged by National Juries. These will have nearly 20,000 Euros to distribute to those schools that they would like to see implement their innovative ideas. These "project implementation grants" will help the selected schools put their ideas into action and work with the local community to tackle their issues.
   
Set up under the partnership with Toyota Motor Europe, through the Toyota Fund for Europe, this initiative starts with a pilot project in the following countries: England and Northern Ireland, Germany, Spain and Italy. It is hoped that on the basis of good results the project can in future be extended to other countries. After selected schools have invested their grants in their projects, a European Jury, including UNEP, will select the schools having shown not only the most interesting project concepts but also final results in putting the projects to action. These will be awarded some very special prizes, including invitation to participate in exciting international events organised by UNEP.
   
The objectives of this project are:
* To involve schools in discussing, planning and implementing innovative responses to challenges in the areas of sustainable mobility (theme for the project in 2005-2007);
* To promote working synergies and activities between schools and local authorities, as well as other community stakeholders;
* To contribute to environmental education with a stimulating initiative involving pragmatic thought;
* To motivate and support schools in making real, pragmatic impacts to their local communities.
* To further promote positive change by sharing and disseminating good practise and ideas around the world. Details of the best school projects will be available online for other Eco-Schools around the world to see and they will also be published in a book by the end of the project cycle.
   
To find out more about the project, rules and application form for participating, timings and information about National Juries, visit the specially prepared website:
www.eco-schools.org/innovation

   
As you may be aware, Eco-Schools is called Green-Schools in Ireland and schools participating in the programme are introduced to environmental themes on a phased basis. Schools are encouraged to focus on one theme in depth, rather than trying to address a wide range of environmental topics in less detail. Only when schools have been awarded the Green Flag are they permitted to introduce a new theme to their respective programmes.
To date, schools initially address Litter and Waste issues and are awarded their first Green Flag on this basis. Next, they introduce Energy and subsequently Water to their programmes, and now for the first time schools in Ireland will be able to move on to address Travel issues associated with their school.
Green-Schools Travel aims to reduce the number of car trips made by parents, staff and students, to and from school. By doing this, schools will reduce their impact on the environment, improve safety on the school journey; improve the health of the student body; broaden education while linking to the Irish curricula; combat social exclusion and contribute to sustainable development.
Over the past fifteen years the number of Irish children being driven to school has more than doubled (42% in 2002) and over the same period the number of Irish children walking and cycling to school has dropped dramatically (25% and 2% respectively).
The consequences of such high car dependency for school travel in Ireland are widespread. Traffic congestion is most obvious. However there is also negative health, safety, environmental and social impacts to consider.
One in five Irish children is overweight due to poor diets and a lack of regular exercise. Emissions from road traffic are the primary threat to the quality of air in Ireland. Passengers in slow moving traffic, especially children, are exposed to pollution levels two to three times higher than pedestrians. Increased traffic and traffic congestion has contributed to more road related accidents. Growth in car use to and from school has led to social exclusion and reduced community relations among parents and children.
However, most pupils in Ireland live within walking and cycling distance of their school. Therefore there are significant opportunities to redress the trend of car use on the school run and we are aiming to do this through Green-Schools Travel.
Modal shift from car use on the school run will be achieved through promotion and adoption of various soft measures, including; walking, cycling, carpooling, multi-modal and public transport initiatives. Schools will be able to achieve their goals by developing, implementing and maintaining School Travel Action Plans through the seven steps of Green-Schools.
The Travel theme will initially run on a two year pilot basis in the Greater Dublin Area. It will involve a total of thirty selected schools across this geographical area. This pilot study is supported by the Dublin Transportation Office which is responsible for coordinating and implementing an integrated transport strategy for the Dublin region. On the successful completion of the pilot Travel programme, it is envisaged that the scheme will extend to the national network of participating Green-Schools in Ireland.
   
For more information: Mr Anthony Purcell (gstransport1@antaisce.org), Green-Schools Transport, An Taisce (Ireland)

   
The dry and delicate landscapes that we call deserts are among the world’s most spectacular, harsh and beautiful. They support a specialized diversity of life, including some of humankind’s most ancient cultures. On all continents, with the exception of uninhabited Antarctica, communities that live in or around deserts represent a direct link to knowledge, history and traditions that are increasingly imperilled by the dual pressures of globalization and environmental decline.
   
Deserts, and the cultures that have learned to live in harmony with them, are an important part of humanity’s heritage. Desertification, on the other hand, is the manifestation of a multitude of destructive factors - almost all caused or made worse by human activity - that together represent one of the greatest challenges to environmental sustainability, human security and the achievement of internationally agreed development goals.
   
There is a fine line between dryland and desert- one which once crossed is hard to return from. It is vastly more cost-effective to prevent dryland degradation than to reverse it. It is therefore essential to focus on policies and technologies that will protect the world’s arid, semiarid and dry subhumid areas. These areas, where rainfall is low and evaporation is high, may be fragile, but if managed well they are also fertile and capable of supporting the habitats, crops and livestock that sustain nearly one-third of humanity.
   
The fact that more than half the world’s productive land is dryland emphasizes the critical importance of wise management at the global, national and local level. Impoverished land and impoverished people are two sides of the same coin. To raise public awareness about desertification, and to help to preserve dryland and desert communities, and the biological diversity on which they depend, the UN General Assembly declared 2006 the International Year of Deserts and Desertification.
   
In support of the International Year, UNEP chose the theme ‘Don’t Desert Drylands’ for World Environment Day 2006. The degradation of drylands is a global problem, but it is perhaps most acute in Africa, the least developed region of the world and the most vulnerable to environmental change. The host city for World Environment Day 2006 is Algiers, capital of Algeria. With its geography, history and culture inextricably bound with the world’s greatest and best-known desert, the Sahara, and with its Environment Minister, Chérif Rahmani, the UN’s honorary spokesman for the International Year of Deserts and Desertification, the country is ideally situated to highlight every facet of this complex issue.
   
Each year, on 5 June, World Environment Day provides an opportunity for communities and governments around the world to reflect on the essential role that the environment plays in our daily lives and our plans for the future. As the UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment has highlighted, more than 60 per cent of the world’s ecosystems are in decline or even degraded to an extent that we can no longer rely on their services. These include the world’s drylands, as well as forests, fisheries and even the air that we breathe. It is plain that, despite increasing knowledge and a growing list of political agreements and commitments, humankind continues to squander our natural capital.
   
For example, it is estimated that desertification and drought account for a $42 billion annual loss in food productivity worldwide. On top of this figure is the uncountable cost in human suffering and lives lost due to hunger and the need to abandon once productive land. These statistics are not only disturbing, they are preventable. This too, is the message of World Environment Day. As well as highlighting problems, each year the Day draws attention to the many available remedies.
   
Throughout its existence, UNEP has emphasized the importance of preventing and reversing land degradation. It played an integral role in establishing the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and is working alongside partners such as the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the UN Development Programme and the Global Environment Facility, to implement it. UNEP has also gathered a comprehensive collection of success stories in the struggle against desertification in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean, which together demonstrate that appropriate, replicable technological and policy solutions exist to address the challenges of the drylands.
   
The degradation of drylands is a growing problem that needs imaginative, collaborative and multi-sectoral action. It is both a result of and a contributor to climate change; it is both the cause and the consequence of poverty. If left unchecked it threatens the future food security of humanity’s steadily growing population and the stability of communities and countries in all regions. Therefore, on this World Environment Day, UNEP’s message to the world is ‘Don’t Desert Drylands!’.
   
For more information visit the website: www.unep.org/wed/2006/

   
This exciting new online competition for school children across Europe has been launched by the European Commission Directorate-General for Energy and Transport under the ManagEnergy initiative. The competition challenges young artists to create images of sustainable energy use in their local environment. It includes:
         * A drawing and painting competition for children under 11
         * A photo competition for children aged 12-16
The overall aim is to educate children in the Member States and the EEA countries on sustainable energy solutions and encourage them to become future sustainable citizens.
   
Competition Rules
* Children from all schools within the Member States and EEA countries are eligible for the competition. Under 11s will be competing on behalf of their class. 12-16s will compete as individuals.
* Drawings and pictures can be created in any medium (e.g. pencils, paint, pastels, etc). They should show environmentally friendly ways to use energy e.g. by saving energy, using renewable energy and/or using sustainable means of transport.
* All entries are to be submitted as digital images (a scan or digital photo must be made of each picture).
* Images must be submitted as GIFs or JPEGs (saved at minimum compression and maximum quality) at at least 1000 x 700 pixels.
* Digital images from participating schools can be submitted via an online entry form at: www.managenergy.net/competition.html
* Name, Gender, Age, Country and School must be indicated on the form.
* All entries must be received by 30 June 2006.
   
Winners and Prizes
The winners in each age group will be announced after the summer vacation 2006.
The winning school class in the drawing and painting competition for under 11s will receive 5 ‘Solar Educational Kits’ as well as one ‘Ronaldo the Reindeer’ T-shirt for each student in their class.
The winner of the photo competition for children aged 12-16 will receive an advanced digital camera as well as a number of ‘Ronaldo the Reindeer’ T-shirts to give to friends and classmates.
T-shirts will also be awarded to the 10 runners-up in each age group.
By participating in this competition, all entrants consent to having their artwork displayed on the ManagEnergy website and/or used in publications produced by the European Commission.
The winners will be selected by the ManagEnergy Reflection Group and the judges decision can not be overruled.
   
For more information visit the website:
www.managenergy.net/competition/competition_en.html
(available in Danish, English, Greek, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish)