Bonn, 8 June 2007. “If we don’t save them, who will?” was the slogan of the day at Bonn International School (BIS) on their International Day celebrations. The message was on a picture drawn by the grade 3 pupils and printed on white cotton carrier-bags that were sold, with the proceeds from the sale being directed to animal conservation. This was part of the ongoing campaign to protect dolphins led by CMS in partnership with the tourism group TUI-AG and World and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS).

On the International Day at BIS, there was a creditable effort from the third grade teacher Ms. Marina Gijzen, grade 3 pupils and their parents to sell the environmentally friendly cotton bags. 140 bags each @10.00 Euros were sold out of a limited stock of 250 bags. The children were filled with joy and enthusiasm on becoming active young environmentalists as they campaigned through the sale of the bags. And it is on their request that the sale of the bags will continue every Friday at the Bonn International School grounds until the end of the month (June 2007).

The children also agreed to invest the revenue earned from the sale of the bags on Dolphin conservation. Each would like to adopt a dolphin through the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society Programme. This, while helping in dolphin conservation would give the children a linkage to their action and the dolphin which will benefit from their donation.

More important to them was passing information to everyone, through the message on the bag, about the need for concerted efforts from each and everyone at working towards environment conservation in every way. As they campaigned for environmental conservation, they requested that there be no balloons during the International Day celebrations. This follows their learning on the dangers that balloons may have especially on animals such as fish, turtles and birds that might mistakenly eat them and die.

The sale of the cotton bags by pupils at BIS is one of the activities that the school has engaged on an environment conservation campaign. Commendable as well is their contribution to the designing of a primary school children’s poster that was launched on the 5th of June 2007 during the World Environmental Day. The double sided-colour A1 poster contains pictures drawn and painted by pupils aged 5-11 and essays written on various migratory species.

For more information please contact:

UNEP/CMS Secretariat
Paola Deda
Hermann-Ehlers-Str. 10
53113 Bonn, Germany
Tel.: +49 228 815-2409
Fax: +49 228 815-2449
pdeda@cms.int
www.cms.int

Peter Murphy
Bonn International School
Martin-Luther-King Str.14
53175 Bonn, Germany
Tel.: +49 228 308 54 250
Fax: +49 228 308 54 351
peter.murphy@bis.bonn.org

 

Notes to editors

Bonn International School (BIS)
Several CMS staff, including the Executive Secretary send their children to Bonn International School. BIS is a state-of-the art school, providing children from ages 3 to 19 with a high quality education in a warm and caring environment. The school, located in a beautiful tree-lined suburb is one of only 140 schools worldwide which offers the International Baccalaureate (IB), highly recognized by many Universities throughout the world.
At BIS, students are not only engaged academically but learn the importance of intercultural understanding and respect. They acquire skills and knowledge to help them thrive in an increasingly mobile and interdependent world. BIS students are challenged to apply knowledge creatively, assume personal responsibility and meet high academic standards. BIS is home to over 400 students from 60 countries. See: www.bis.bonn.org (click).