From all corners of the globe, attention will soon focus on the World Summit on Sustainable Development being held in South Africa in 2002 ñ 10 years after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Expectations and interest are already building, and as the Earth Summit approaches, everyone from politicians to primary school children will be looking for answers, hope and an opportunity to play their part in shaping the future of the world.

It is future generations that will benefit, or suffer, from the decisions and actions taken. WWF, in partnership with the government, believes that young people across the UK should be empowered to take part in what could be the most critical meeting on environment and development this decade.

The Our World’ Project

Our World’ is a major new schools’ project being specially run during the build up to the Summit. By launching the project, it is hoped that younger voices will also be heard at the Summit. They, after all, are the future inheritors and guardians of the planet, and positive action from Johannesburg in 2002 to protect the environment and eradicate poverty must be our legacy to them.

The following elements make up the Our World’ project: Schools challenge and online activities for pupils. Schools may choose to join in one or all of these elements.

Schools Challenge

Building on the success of TV programmes such as Ground-force, DIY SOS and Changing Rooms, the Schools Challenge will bring this topical format into schoolsÖ but give it a sustainability focus.

All schools in the UK are invited to submit an application for a grant of £15,000. This grant is intended to help schools achieve a make-over with sustainability at its core. Clearly, it will not enable a total school make-over, but it should act as a stepping stone for longer term plans by the school. A key part of the project is pupil-involvement in planning, implementation and evaluation and this is a key requisite for successful applications. Links to the local community and local authorities must also be inherent in the schools’ plans. Schools should also demonstrate how their project links to the curriculum.

Four winning schools, one from each UK country will be selected. From the winning schools, a further selection process will identify the pupil representative from the school (plus parent or teacher) who will travel to the Summit in Johannesburg in September 2002. These pupils will play an active role at the Summit, reporting back to other students in the UK via WWF’s education website ñ www​.wwflearning​.co​.uk ñ gathering news, interviewing delegates, and representing the views of pupils back home. These winning schools will also be integral to the online activities described below. BBC Newsround and BBC Online have expressed interest in covering the Schools Challenge and the pupils’ trip to Johannesburg.

Online Activities

As a complement to the Schools Challenge, the WWF are running a suite of online activities via their website. They hope these activities will help as many schools as possible to contribute to the Summit in South Africa. Activities include a quiz and interactive resources; an exhibition of pupils’ work. Schools involved in the debates and quiz will be invited to produce an online exhibition im-mediately after the Summit, and a news magazine for publication during and after the Summit with contrib-utions from pupils and experts.

Digital cameras will be awarded to the school with the winning pupils in the quiz, and to the school that makes the best contribution to the debate.
FURTHER INFORMATION : Lorraine Edwards, Our World’ WWF-UK, Panda House, Weyside Park, Godalming, Surrey, GU7 1XR
WEB SITE : http://​www​.wwflearning​.co​.uk