Nairobi,
5 June 2009 - The United Nations Environment
Programme’s Regional Office for Africa (UNEP-ROA)
is today announcing the regional winners
of the Eighteenth International Children’s
Painting Competition on the Environment
to mark this year’s World Environment Day.
The regional winner,
Ramy Gamal AbdelHamed AbdelRazik’s painting
was selected by a jury composed of the representatives
of the organizers out of 694 entries received
by the Regional Office from 14 countries,
representing all the regions in Africa.
Ramy, who is active member
of the Library of Alexandria in Alexandria,
Egypt said: “Going deep with my feelings,
I imagine the drawing representing environment
pollution and how to change it to pure nature.
The drawing idea is to use two symbols;
first is the “Unhealthy Earth”, full of
pollution, which make it sad and ugly. The
other symbol is “Foot” which is trying to
eliminate pollution by kicking it out of
earth and replace it by healthy environment
that includes flowers and trees.” He added
“ This will lead human to live a beautiful
and nice life.”
As a regional winner,
Ramy AbdelRazik will receive a cash prize
US$ 1,000.
Mounkaila Goumandakoye,
Regional Director of UNEP in Africa said:
“Children are our future and often they
are our conscience. They provide the enthusiasm,
the vigour and the idealism that this world
needs. One way in which we can listen to
them is by giving them the opportunity to
express themselves in art – and by taking
their message seriously. It is quite evident
that much change is needed to protect the
environment and address the adverse impacts
of climate change. We hope the winning entries
will catalyze the world and adults to move
ahead and take concrete steps to mitigate
the effects of climate change.”
The theme of the 18th
International Children’s competition “Climate
change-Actions you can take” highlighted
one of the most critical global challenges
of our time and the need for individual
action and political commitment to seal
the deal in culmination of crucial negotiation
for a more equitable and efficient climate
regime at the Copenhagen Conference in December
2009.
Children, aged 5 - 14
across the world were invited to express
their thoughts on the challenges of climate
change and what they can do about it through
the medium of art, by drawing and painting
their vision of how each and everyone can
lessen his foot print or minimize activities
that adversely affect the climate.
Ms. Tomoko Yano, Secretary
General of the Foundation for Global Peace
and Environment, partnering with UNEP on
this initiative said: “Among kinds of environmental
problems, the climate change is the most
serious and common issue influencing all
lives and natures on the planet. We have
to combine every effort and wisdom to confront
the issue for future generations. Our children
are exactly the future. They are very sensitive
to feel the environmental conditions. We
can see their gloom and fear for the future
on their unique and creative paintings.
On the other hand, they genuinely hope that
their future is becoming brighter than they
believe in. They strongly appeal to the
global community and leaders that everyone
should take actions now. We sincerely hope
that people around the world will be encouraged
by children’s paintings to work out a solution
to our common threat, the climate change.”
UNEP, the Japan-based
Foundation for Global Peace and Environment
(FGPE), Bayer and Nikon, jointly organizes
this annual competition.
“The deterioration of
the global environment is becoming more
serious year after year, and that casts
dark clouds over our children and the coming
generations”, says Yoshimichi Kawai, Director,
Member of the Board and Executive Officer
at Nikon Corporation. “This year Climate
Change Conference (COP15) will take place
in Copenhagen. We appeal, together with
our partners, the importance of the global
environmental preservation to people in
the world through the children’s paintings,
and we hope they will start taking an action
to prevent climate change.”
The selection of the
global winners will be made by a Jury comprised
of representatives of all the organizers.
These global winners will be announced on
20 August 2009 at the Tunza International
children’s’ conference in Daejeon, Korea.
The global First Prize
winner will receive a cash prize US$ 2,000.
The regional and global winners will also
receive an all expense paid trip to Tunza
International Children Conference in Daejeon,
Korea from 17 to 20 August.
A selection of winning
paintings will be shown in exhibitions in
the United Nations Climate Change Conference
in Copenhagen from 7 to 18 December 2009.
They will also be exhibited on the Internet
and will be used for posters, post cards,
calendars, and in publications.
Note to editors
About the competition
About 420 out of 694
entries received from all the regions in
Africa, from 14 countries were qualified
for this 18th International Children Painting
Competition on the Environment.
The countries included
The countries include Egypt, Morocco, Kenya,
Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Côte d'Ivoire,
Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Botswana,
Congo, Uganda and Mali.
Each UNEP Regional Office
(Bahrain, Bangkok, Geneva, Mexico City,
Washington DC, and Nairobi) chooses regional
winners and also submitted at least 100
paintings to the global selection.
This years painting
competition attracted over 19,000 entries
from 89 countries. Eventually all paintings
submitted to the global competition will
be held at the National Museum of Ethnology
in Osaka, Japan.
The painting competition
has been held since 11000 and in that has
received over 200,000 entries from children
in over 100 countries.
The International Children’s
Painting Competition on the Environment
is part of UNEP's TUNZA strategy for children
and youth. TUNZA is a word in Kiswahili
that means to “treat with care”. The programme
aims to increase young people’s involvement
in environmental issues so that they can
take actions and inspire others to act for
a better world.
About the partners
The cooperation of UNEP
and Bayer has been in place for over a decade
and covers organizing competitions for World
Environment Day, supporting conferences
and providing opportunities for young people
to participate in environmental study tours
and international learning forums.
For More Information
Please Contact: Nick Nuttall, Spokesperson,
United Nation Environment Programme on Tel:
254 20 7623084, Mobile: 254 (0) 733 632755,
E-mail: nick.nuttall@unep.org or Angèle
Luh- Sy, Information Officers at the Regional
Office for Africa, on Tel: 254 20 7624292,
Mobile: 254 (0) 722 429 770; E-mail: Angele.Luh@unep.org
