Climate Change and I
Children’s Expressions though Poetry, Poster and Art:
 Children and teenagers from the
age of 12 to 20 from all over Sri Lanka expressed their views on climate
change through the creative mediums of poetry, poster and art in the
‘Climate change and I’ competition organised by the British Council in
partnership with the Royal Norwegian Embassy. The Awards Ceremony of the
competition was held recently at the British Council Auditorium.
The award-wining students, their parents and special guests including
the Royal Norwegian Ambassador Tore Hattrem and M. A. R. D. Jayatilleke,
Secretary to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, attended
the ceremony. The nationwide competition was open to all Sri Lankan
citizens between the following age categories of 12 to 14, 15 to 17 and
18 to 20 years. There were over 1250 entries which covered areas such as
Jaffna, Batticaloa, Hambanthota, Kandy and Colombo.
The eminent panel who judged the competition consisted of artist
Sybil Wettasinghe, poet Sunethra Rajakarunanayake, climate change
experts Nimal Perera, Ravi de Silva and Harshini de Silva. Speaking at
the ceremony, Ambassador Hattrem said, “It is important to make the
younger generation aware of climate change related issues and the Royal
Norwegian Embassy is happy to be supporting this program.”
Kishore Roy, Country Exams manager British Council said, “The British
Council believes the key to addressing the issues around climate change
is to get people and particularly the younger generation to think about
these issues, the causes and what we can all do to help tackle it.”
British Council Sri Lanka has been committed in bringing about a
change in tackling climate change issues having the desire to instill
nature-friendly values in Sri Lankan youth today. Moreover, with British
Council’s various Green Initiatives to reduce their own consumption of
paper and other resources, they have set a valuable example for others.
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