One of the two loggerhead turtles released during the launch event at Golden Bay.

Workshops about marine litter and the delicate sand dune ecosystems were held as part of the official launch in Malta of the international Litter Less Campaign. The campaign aims to educate young people on the issue of litter and encourage them to take positive choices and action thereon. Participating youths will be trained through in-house workshops on how to carry out investigations and produce written, photojournalistic or video reports on local environmental issues. Students from schools participating in the campaign will be able to network with peers from the 10 other participating countries and produce joint projects.

Schools are also encouraged to organise a community action day to reach out to the parents and families of the students and to further promote their campaigns through local media.

The work of local students participating in the campaign will be displayed to the public at a month-long exhibition to be organised by Action Planet at St James Cavalier, Valletta.

The campaign is a joint initiative of the Wrigley Company Foundation and the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) and is implemented in Malta in schools running the Ecoschools, Learning About Forests (Leaf) or Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) programmes.

Over 30 students taking part in the YRE programme attended the launch event at Golden Bay during which two loggerhead turtles were released. Also present for the ceremony was Nature Trust-FEE Malta executive president Vincent Attard and Environment Minister José Herrera, who distributed grants to the schools in support of their campaigns. Apart from this funding, local schools will also compete with international counterparts for international prizes.

For further information visit the website below or call YRE national coordinator Audrey Gauci on 7929 5424 or e-mail audreygauci@gmail.com.

www.yre.global/litter-less-campaign