In a bid to raise greater awareness, advocacy and education amongst citizens on the importance of environmental consciousness, the Dawn Project has adopted arts as a means of tackling the challenges of environmental degradation and climate change.
The project sees arts as a unique approach to the climate crisis as proposed in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Nos. 13 focusing on Combating Climate Change and Its Impact through the adoption of Art (spoken, written, musical, visual and/or movement) as a means of expressing the issues and seeking creative solutions.
A poetry competition has however been instituted with the adaptation of “A PLEA” which is a poem written by Dr. Pamela Ajayi in 2005 as an appeal to the conscience of humans to restore a dying Mother Nature.
The poem was unveiled in Lagos as The Dawn Project launched its climate change awareness competition.
The competition involves participants including children and adults reading through the six-stanza poem and writing a 250-word essay on the inherent message of the poem.
Speaking at the unveiling, Ajayi, a medical doctor and the author said there is a nexus between health and environment.
She said “What I have found out is that there is a strong relationship between the environment and our health. Globally, when there is climate change, the negative changes have negative impacts on our health.”
On the competition, adults will win cash prizes of N200,000, N100,000 and N50,000 for the first, second and third positions respectively with five consolation prizes of N20,000.
Children between the ages of seven and 14 will win cash prizes of 50,000, N20,000 and N10,000 for the first, second and third positions respectively, including consolation prizes and a grand prize of N100,000 for the best creative design in that category.
Secondary school children between the ages of 15 and 18 will win cash prizes of N100,000, N50,000 and N20,000 for the first, second and third positions respectively and 10 consolation prizes.
The Dawn Project officially commences on the 21st of March, UN Poetry Day, while the competition finale will hold on the 22nd of April, UN Mother Earth Day.
The winners of the competition will be announced on the 5th of June, 2020, UN Environmental Day.
