December 3rd 2009
Press Conference on Launch of School Award
‘Take Care of Your Planet’

The theme of the annual school award presented by the Spanish non-governmental organization Peace and Cooperation will be “Take care of your planet”, that organization’s president Joaquín Antuña announced at Headquarters today, four days before the United Nations Climate Change Conference opens in Copenhagen.

The competition for the award, which each year focuses on different themes of global importance like “water for all” or “peace and the United Nations”, seeks to bring big ideas to local schools around the world, Mr. Antuña said.

“We think that big subjects, big targets, big goals are not only for big people, like Heads of State or scientists, but also for ordinary people,” he said. Specifically, it believed schools were important meeting places for the discussion and consideration of those problems, and Peace and Cooperation often used United Nations documents to frame them.

He noted that more than 25,000 entries from 50 different countries had been received for the 2009 competition on “Learning to Live Together and in Peace.”  By asking children and schools to “Take care of your planet,” the 2010 competition would be a search for “green minds.”

Underlining the award’s new theme, Elvira Sánchez-Igual of the World Association of Early Child Educators (AMEI-WAECE), stressed that, in contrast to high-level discussions that often focused on intervention, the competition would target prevention.  Among other things, it took inspiration from the link made by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change between climate change and human behaviour.

“The only way to prevent the future deterioration of the world,” she argued, “is to ensure that every person receives environmental education and acted according to its guidelines.”

Speaking on behalf of the aid organization Airline Ambassadors -- which has partnered with Peace and Cooperation for the last 10 years -- that group’s president, Nancy Rivard, outlined the parameters of the 2010 competition, which would have different age categories. 

Children up to 6 years old would create a picture of the world as they wanted it to be, she said.  Those from 7 to 12 years would submit a poster and slogan on the importance of setting an example regarding climate change, while youth 13 to 16 years old could make a mural to illustrate that “Taking care of the planet starts with one’s self.”  Those 16 to 18 –- a new age category for the award -- would be asked to develop an advertising campaign on global climate change.

She said that, among other things, teachers would also be invited to celebrate World Environment Day on 22 April by creating multimedia presentations and events.  A jury would judge the entries, which were due by 4 July 2010, and awards would be presented on 24 October 2010 at Madrid’s Egyptian Institute.