Art creates a powerful and lasting emotion, as visual images stick with us more than words. Hence, artists can use art to make a statement that moves viewers into action. Art also helps with mental and motor skill development amongst younger children and hence in recent years, there has been great interest among educators in understanding and further developing links between arts based learning and human development. As this is one of the most popular events of EEG, more than 350 schools across the UAE take part each year. In 2021, students were given the opportunity to creatively express their views on the following topics, “Your Vision of Biodiversity for 2030”, “Dubai Expo and the Future of Sustainability”, and “Sustainable Recovery after the Pandemic”

This cycle also saw the successful integration and representation of UN SGD Goals 3, 4, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 17, which touched upon areas such as Good Health and Well-Being; Quality Education; Sustainable Cities and Communities; Responsible Consumption and Production; Climate Action; Life below Water; Life on Land and Partnership for Goals, respectively.

Confidence and powerful oratory skills are essential for effectively raising awareness and encouraging the conventional crowd to convert into environmentally responsible citizens. Thus, EEG provides the young minds of the UAE with a platform to develop their public speaking skills and express their concerns on environmental degradation. The competition prepares school students with confidence, critical thinking skills and sound knowledge on existing sustainability issues. EEG proudly welcomed Ounass onboard as its Support Sponsor for this year’s cycle.

In 2021, more than 400 students participated and the topics consisted of “Sustainable living: A path for a greener future?”, “Environment and Education: Need for Change”, “Balancing the three pillars of sustainability in a post pandemic world” and “Integrating environment & technology: A solution to sustainability?”

The topics for the year were chosen with extreme scrutiny, taking suggestions from previous participants, educators, sponsors, judges and with open discussion with the board members of EEG. The topics chosen this year were vital to the current situation faced by the global community, to encompass the shift in focus towards the need for sustainability during and after the pandemic. The topics and the competition drives the discourse towards several of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals including SDG 3, SDG 4, SDG 8, SDG 11, SDG 13, SDG 14 and SDG 15.

The year 2021 has been a series of slippery slopes for sustainability – from the forest fires, hurricanes, floods to the Covid-19 pandemic and we have not seen the end of it yet. The world has undeniably witnessed the effects of climate change and the aftermath of unchecked environmental destruction that we have sowed for the past two centuries since the start of industrial revolution. It is irrefutable that now, we as citizens of this planet must work together to combat and rectify this climate crisis. To highlight the importance of collaborative efforts, “Tale of Unequivocal Provider: The Abode of Life” was chosen as the theme for the 21^st cycle of the annual Students’ Workshops.

The theme was set to ensure that we highlight to the youth the learned historical tales of our planet. The moral of the story is always that if we do not work with the planet and other living entities, the Earth might just change its façade once more, and favour other life forms over the humans. Towards the end of the workshop, students critically came up with solutions to common issues faced by all. These solutions must be beneficial to humans, the local biodiversity, and the planet with key insights from nature.

EEG believes that education is the key to achieving uttermost environmental success. This belief inspires EEG to serve as a creative platform for tomorrow’s sustainability champions to come together and discuss contemporary environmental issues. The 21^st Inter College Environmental Public Speaking Competition is a special edition which gave a chance for outstanding international undergraduate student participants across the GCC, MENA Region and beyond to creatively showcase their public speaking skills and express their opinions about environmental and sustainability issues. This enables them to expand their thought-process to propose innovative solutions for bringing a positive change.

The 21st cycle of the EEG Inter College Environmental Speech Competition took place in Dubai from 23^rd – 24^th November at Knowledge Village in Dubai under the patronage of Ministry of Education of the UAE. The competition was proudly sponsored by DP World. In 2021, the students spoke under the topics: “Sustainable living: A path for a greener future?”, “Environment and Education: Need for Change”, “Balancing the three pillars of sustainability in a post pandemic world” and “Integrating environment & technology: A solution to sustainability?”

As EEG aims to positively contribute to the advancement of sustainable development, it acts as a focal point for students of diverse ages, nationalities and backgrounds across academic institutions in the UAE and recently in other parts of the world. Concerned pupils engage in discussions with EEG about issues and implementation of solutions within different aspects of sustainability, creating inspiration for impactful actions and developments. Interested? Please do reach out to us at eeg@emirates.net.ae to know more.