1 st Prize Name: Naylee Nimesh Nagda Country: Kenya School: Oshwal Jain Primary Age: 10 Contacts: 3742826	2 nd Prize: Naha Sharma Name: Naha Sharma Country: Kenya School: John Melvins School Nakuru Age: 13 Contacts: 051-2215206/0733-813921	3 rd Prize Name: Radhika Dhirane Shah Country: Kenya School: Oshwal High School Age: 14 Contacts: 3740387

Nairobi , 3 May 2006- Nine Years Old Naylee Nimeshah Nagda from Kenya has won the top African Prize for the United Nations Environment Programme's fifteenth International Children's Painting Competition on the Environment. The announcement was made today at UNEP Headquarter in Nairobi .

Her painting was selected among over 800 entries from across the continent, for the way she captures all the factors leading to desertification and its impacts on a green leaf. This shows the growing momentum that UNEP's International Children Painting Competition is gaining across the continent.

UNEP's OIC and Deputy Executive Director Shafqat Kakakhel today said: "Children are our future and often they are our conscience. Our children provide the spark, the enthusiasm, the vigour and the idealism that this world needs. They know something needs to be done and we must listen to them. One way in which we can listen to them is by giving them the opportunity to express themselves in art – and by taking their art seriously."

Naylee who is currently a school girl at the Oshwal Jain Primary School in Nairobi , Kenya , is among 17 African children, who won Prizes at this increasingly popular competition. As a regional winner, she will receive a cash prize of US$ 1,000 and a certificate. She will also travel to Algiers , Algeria , to attend the official World Environment Day celebration.

The theme of this year's Competition was Deserts and Desertification, mirroring the fact that 2006 has been designated the International year of Deserts and Desertification and it is also the theme for World Environment Day 2006. Around 1/3 of the world's population live in drylands. Their degradation and desertification is a very real threat to people's lives and livelihoods, as well as to the health of the planet as a whole.

For this edition of the Global Competition on the Environment, Children aged 6 - 14 were invited to express their hopes and fears about the world's deserts and drylands through the medium of art.

Ms. Tomoko Yano, Secretary General, Foundation for Global Peace and Environment said: “Since we launched the painting competition in 1990, the situation of the global environment has, regrettably, been becoming much more serious. Children's paintings have always reflected the state of the crisis of the environmental destruction, expressing their sorrow with unique and creative ideas. At the same time, we find their expressions full of their hope and their wishes for the brighter future”. “The children, through their learning, imagination and creation of wonderful art works on this year's theme of Deserts and Desertification, have encouraged us to take actions for preventing desertification. We hope these paintings will also inspire people around the world to work together to preserve our precious planet for future generations” he added.

This annual competition is jointly organized by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Japan-based Foundation for Global Peace and Environment (FGPE), Bayer and the Nikon Corporation. It has been held since 1990 and in that time has received over 170,000 entries from children in over 100 countries.

The aim of the competition is to raise environmental awareness among young people and create a better understanding of the impacts of human activities on the environment. It builds on partnerships to spread environmental awareness and good practices in caring for our environment.

The Chief Executive of Bayer AG said "Looking at the world through the eyes of a child can give adults too a whole new perspective and many new ideas. As part of its partnership with UNEP, Bayer considers it essential to awaken the interest of young people in environmental protection and to take their concerns for the future of our planet seriously."

Note to editors

Each UNEP Regional Office ( Bahrain , Bangkok , Geneva , Mexico City, Washington DC , and Nairobi ) chose regional winners and also submitted at least 100 paintings to the global selection. The selection of the global winners was made by a Jury comprised of representatives of all the organizers. These global winners will be announced on 5 June 2006 at the main international celebrations to mark World Environment Day in Algiers .

Judging took place in two rounds: UNEP Regional Offices and their partners selected regional winners, while the final selection was done by UNEP, the Foundation for Global Peace and Environment (FGPE Japan), and Bayer AG and Nikon.

A selection of winning paintings will be shown in exhibitions in Algeria , Japan , Germany and other countries. They will also be exhibited on the Internet. In future, selected paintings will be used on UNEP posters, post cards, calendars, and in publications. Eventually all paintings submitted to the global competition will be held at the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka , Japan .

The International Children's Painting Competition on the Environment is part of UNEP's TUNZA strategy for children and youth. TUNZA is a word in Kiswahili that means to “treat with care”. The programme aims to provide young people with information and tools on how to “treat Mother Earth with care” and how to act for a better word.

Bayer is UNEP's primary partner for its children and youth activities. The German-based international enterprise with core competences in the fields of health care, nutrition and innovative materials currently supports the TUNZA programme with sponsorship amounting to one million Euros per annum. The cooperation of UNEP and Bayer has been in place for over a decade and covers organizing competitions for World Environment Day, supporting conferences and providing opportunities for young people to participate in environmental study tours and international learning forums.

The comprehensive list of laureates from the region is available on request.

For More Information Please Contact : Eric Falt, Director of UNEP's Division of Communications and Public Information, on Tel: 254 20 623292, Mobile : 254 (0) 733 682656, E-mail: eric.falt@unep.org or Angèle Luh-Sy, Information Officer at the Regional Office for Africa , on Tel: 254 20 624292, E-mail: angele.luh@unep.org