Volvo green contest open till January 31

Volvo has announced that the last day for final submission of projects on www.volvoadventure.org would be January 31, 2006.

The contest offered a chance to schoolchildren to gain international recognition for their environmental projects and environmental education.

Volvo in India announced the Volvo Adventure competition (www.volvoadventure.org), in partnership with UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) to recognise and reward practical environmental action being taken by young people in their local community.

The Volvo Adventure Competition culminated with the Volvo Young Environmentalists Awards. The global Internet-based global environmental-education programme for school children aged between 10 and 16, was aimed at increasing the environmental expertise of tomorrow's decision-makers and consumers.

Volvo said it had received projects from 16 different countries as on date and expects an inflow of projects from several other schools closer to the submission date.

These projects had been uploaded on the Volvo website and could be viewed on the Volvo Adventure weblink.

Part of the education programme for the 2006 Award consisted of a competition structured around groups of a maximum of five participants who undertake environment-promotion projects.

To register for the award, teams would have to log onto the Volvo Adventure on www.volvoadventure.org and register on-line to help start their environmental project.

They could also download relevant information for guidance. Schools could call the Volvo Adventure Helpline on 080 - 55336419 between 10 am and 5 pm on any working day.

Groups entering an environmental project to Volvo Adventure could win an all expenses paid trip to attend the Volvo Adventure Conference in Sweden, present their environmental project and practical action to a jury of international experts, win a $10,000, $6,000 or $4,000 prize to fund their environmental project, show their project to the world by publishing it on the Volvo Adventure Project and contribute to a handbook of practical environmental action for use by your peers.

In 2002 & 2003, the Volvo Young Environmentalists Award was bagged by the Indian team against over 30 contesting teams from around the world.

In 2002, the team representing India"�Team Little Eco-Friends - was from St. Josephs Indian High School, Bangalore, which won a grant of US$10,000 for a project on reducing the usage of poly-bags.

In 2004, a team representing National Public school won the award with a project aimed at reducing pollution caused by burning leaves through adoption of vermicomposting as an alternative, thereby empowering women in villages by providing them an alternative source of income through vermicomposting.

Volvo Adventure was a joint project run by the Volvo Group, Volvo Car Corporation and was recognised by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).