11.10.2006 - 10:28am ET

(CSRwire) Leverkusen - Forty-eight Young Environmental Envoys from sixteen countries on four continents are spending a week in Leverkusen, Germany, at the invitation of Bayer to find out about the development and prospects for environmental protection and sustainable development. The young people invited to take part in the one-week field trip to Leverkusen were selected from a good 1,200 participants on the basis of the environmental projects they presented in special competitions organized by Bayer in their home countries.

In his words of welcome, Dr. Wolfgang Plischke, the Management Board member at Bayer responsible for Innovation, Technology and Environment, said: "We hope that you gain as many ideas and as much information on the subject of environmental protection as possible which you can then take home with you and pass on to your contemporaries in your native countries."

The Young Environmental Envoy Program, which Bayer started in Asia in 1995, is one of the key elements in an alliance between Bayer and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on environmental education programs for young people. The Program focuses primarily on the world's fast-growing emerging economies. Originally introduced in Thailand, the concept was subsequently extended to India, China, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Poland and Kenya. This year, these countries have been joined by Malaysia and Vietnam.

So far, some 6,000 young people have applied for a place on the program and almost 300 have been invited to visit Germany.

As well as presentations on sustainable development by speakers such as Eric Falt, UNEP Director of Communications, and Frithjof Finkbeiner, co-founder of the World Contract Foundation and the Global Marshall Plan, the one-week program includes a number of discussions in and around Leverkusen. The main focus here is on fostering exchange between the young people.

The study trip to Germany gives young people from around the world an opportunity to gain first-hand experience of the principles and practice of modern environmental protection in Germany. The Young Environmental Envoys visit various Bayer sites and talk there to experts on the environment. The program also includes visits to the North Rhine-Westphalia State Environment Agency and AVEA, a waste processing and disposal facility in Leverkusen. The aim is to give young people a fuller understanding of what role industry, authorities and private households play in the field of environmental protection and how they interact. It is hoped that by reporting on their impressions, experience and insights on their return home, the Environmental Envoys will be able to raise awareness of sustainable development in their own societies. Many former participants in this Bayer initiative now have jobs where they play a key role in environmental protection in their home countries.

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