School students across Bahrain are the target of an educational initiative that aims to raise awareness about issues such as waste management, recycling and reducing Bahrain's carbon footprint.

The initiative, known as Project in a Box, is being rolled out by the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) and the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep).

Schools are given a Project in a Box pack that contains literature for school environment projects and information about the BIC's initiative to calculate and offset its carbon footprint.

Seeds are also included in the pack so students can join in the pledge to contribute to the UN's seven billion global tree campaign.

'The goal of the project is to carry out various initiatives that will be beneficial not only for the circuit but for the entire kingdom,' said BIC chief executive officer Martin Whitaker.

'We also hope that with this project we will be able to spread awareness nationally and regionally as we join forces with Unep to tackle important global issues.

'By getting the local schools on board we are educating and informing our community and leaders of tomorrow of how we can look after the environment we live in.'

'This includes focusing on environmental issues such as waste management, recycling and reducing our carbon footprint.'

More than 40 students from Ibn Khuldoon National School, Riffa Views International School, the International School of Choueifat and Al Hekma International School were the latest to learn about the initiative when they visited the BIC in Sakhir.

Each school was presented with a Project in a Box pack, a DVD of Ozzie Ozone about the effects of pollution, as well as literature about Unep.

Initiative

In addition, the children were given a presentation by Bahrain University students who had been constructing solar and hydro cars for their mechanical engineering projects.

To better illustrate a real world application of science to the environment, the students were informed on how these would be more efficient than petrol-fuelled cars.

To finish the presentation, a Tunza youth representative for West Asia explained different initiatives and actions which the children could take to protect the environment.

The Project in a Box is in line with Unep and BIC's recent signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop various environmental initiatives such as sustaining indigenous plants, shrubs and trees to make the BIC more environmentally friendly.

Whitaker said BIC was the only racing circuit in the world to have a MoU with Unep and he hoped others would follow suit.

He said the BIC was in a strong position to spread environment awareness because of the exposure it had in the media and the amount of spectators that visited the facility.

'It's about using a very high profile facility to create awareness,' said Whitaker.

'This project is about getting schoolchildren involved and we will continue to do this with other projects.'

'We are looking at having a wooded area that will become an environmental classroom for school kids where they can see how plants grown, how to plant a tree, what soil it needs and so on.'

Unep Regional Office for West Asia director and regional representative Dr Habib El Habr said the Project in a Box was part of Unep's awareness campaign with schools and youths.

'This is about making BIC and Bahrain green and creating awareness,' he said. 'We are targeting the youth because they are the future leaders. We have discussed something for waste management and the carbon footprint of the race.'

'We are also looking at energy saving and have an initiated indigenous tree planting around the circuit and Bahrain as part of a global initiative to plant sev