Who is ECO-UNESCO?

ECO-UNESCO is Ireland’s environmental and youth organisation that works to conserve the environment and empower young people. This year, they are calling for young people all across Ireland to come together in their schools, youth groups, or community groups, to tackle environmental issues that matter, build their skills and make a difference!

Young Environmentalist Awards 2018

The Young Environmentalist Awards (YEA) is a fun and exciting way to empower young people to build awareness of local and global environmental issues and promote actions to improve the environment for all.

The YEA challenges young people to come up with innovative solutions to environmental issues and problems. There are 10 categories to choose from that include waste, biodiversity, water, climate change, and energy, the choice is entirely up to you! This could be anything from creating a community garden or bio-diverse habitat for wildlife, tackling waste in the community or creating organic beauty products!

Whilst carrying out action projects young people also gain important skills such as planning, communication, organisation and leadership, whilst raising awareness of the environment at the same time.  

How to Enter

Entering a team couldn’t be easier, all you have to do is:

1. get a team of 2-25 young people (aged 10-18) together
2. register on the ECO-UNESCO website, and
3. download the free step-by-step guide of how to plan and manage your project to and get going! ECO-UNESCO will even come to your school/community group and deliver free 6 Steps to Success training to help you get started!

Last year over 4,000 young people took part, join them and help to make the Young Environmentalist Awards 2018 the biggest and greenest year!

“Let it Bee” Overall Junior Winner 2017 – accompanying photo

A group of young people from Loreto College in Swords scooped two prestigious awards at the YEA 2017 Final in May for their inspiring project ‘Let it Bee’, winning the Overall Junior and the Biodiversity Award. The work of young people from Loreto College in Dublin provided a habitat for bees and other insects and they raised awareness about the decline in bee population due to chemical sprays and the threat of pollutants to the natural world.