Chennai, March 27, 2008: Volvo announced the finalists of the Volvo Adventure Competition 2008 for the young people (13 – 16 years) in India. Bharat Mata School, Bilaspur (Chattisgarh) has won the first prize this year, for their project ‘No stagnation no mosquitoes’ and will now compete in the Global Finals at Goteborg, Sweden. They are followed by the runners-up team’s project ‘Traffic control’ from Chennai.

This year total entries received globally reached 352, out of which India contributed 41 projects. All the projects have been rated on a scale of 0 – 40 points by international jury including Prof. Madhav Gadgil, renowned environmentalist, from India. The projects have been rated on four criterions: Understanding of the problem, Actions taken, Results obtained and Involvement of young people. The Volvo Adventure Project is carried out in partnership with United Nations Environment Programme and is owned by Volvo Group & the Volvo Car Corporation. 

The winners’ team project was aimed at preventing harmful effects of mosquitoes on students’ health. Their project was born out of the idea of safeguarding health of school children from the increasing number of mosquitoes in the school drains. Their approach was based on - cleaning the drains in front of school, preventing growth of mosquitoes by stopping stagnation of water, spreading awareness amongst rest of the students not to bring polyethylene for lunch boxes and making school free from plastic. The results were quite motivating as no health problems due to mosquitoes in school were observed and the drain stagnation problem in front of the school was solved.
 
Prof. Madhav Gadgil,  sums up the project, “This project demonstrates a clear understanding of a most significant environmental problem of India, namely, prevalence of mosquitoes that transmit several diseases. This problem identification has been followed by simple practical actions by the students.”
  
Speaking on the announcement of the Volvo Adventure results at a press conference, Mr. Eric Leblanc, Managing Director, Volvo in India mentioned,” With the Volvo Adventure Project, Volvo is glad to participate with young people who have been absolutely inspiring with their commitment and efforts for a better environment . Even though just  13 to 16 years now, these are the future decision makers of India and they have already begun influencing their communities. At Volvo, environment is a core value, but we know that collaboration among various stakeholders is the only way to go forward. I would like to congratulate both the winning teams and wish them luck for the global finals.”

Speaking on the occasion Mr. Paul de Voijs, Managing Director, Volvo Car India said,” It is encouraging to see the enthusiasm and the innovative work undertaken by the school children showcasing their concern towards the environment. With the Volvo Adventure we aim to achieve two objectives- acknowledge the effort put by the students’ and build awareness about the environment amongst tomorrow decision makers. I would like to congratulate the teams for making through final round and wish them best of luck for finals in Sweden.”

The runners up team ‘Jash’ from Chennai carried out a project on solving traffic congestion. The objective was to reduce the traffic congestion, regulate the traffic, to reduce the fatality rate and to provide safe road to school children. The action plan involved survey of the road users, preparation of suggestive policy and its submission to the traffic police, road safety patrols by school children etc. This year the runners up team will also participate at the global finals as observers. 

The judges summed up the project as, “This project also shows a clear understanding of an acute urban environmental problem, namely, traffic congestion; followed by effective lobbying and creation of awareness.”

The national winners get an all expenses paid trip to attend Volvo Adventure Conference in Sweden, present their environmental project and practical action to a jury of International experts, show their project to the world by publishing it on the Volvo Adventure Project/ Website and a chance to win $10,000, $6,000 or $4,000 prize to fund the environmental project.