Excursions offer first hand experience for the participants

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Conference Diary - Day 2 (August 28, 2007)
Excursions offer first hand experience for the participants
Press Photos


Day 2 of the Tunza Conference: The participants had excursions to waste management facilities and research institutes which gave them first hand experience on what technology can do for the environment – they took these impressions with them into group discussions that were held later on in the day.

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Participants in front of the conference centre BayKomm, Leverkusen.
Some of the participants stared at the screen with bleary eyes as Dr. Ulrich Bornewasser (Communications Environmental Services at Bayer Industry Services) began the day’s programme at 8:30 a.m. with his presentation on environmental protection at Bayer. “Today, anybody thinking economically must also think about the environment,” he concluded.

In the hours that followed, the participants saw plenty of practical examples on efforts by business to incorporate environmental issues in their work. The first port of call was the Bayer incinerator, whose technology impressed Ramanathan Thurairajoo (24). The environmental engineer from Singapore said: “That is state-of-the-art technology. We can certainly learn a lot from it.” And Giorgi Mukhigulishvili (20) from Georgia added: “We need this technology in my home country too if we want our development to run along environmental lines.”

For their second visit of the day the participants could choose between a municipal waste incinerator, a wind energy research park and a photovoltaics testing laboratory. Maurice Odera (24) from Kenya was one of those who went to the testing laboratory, in which the durability of solar cells is tested under extreme conditions. Solar technology is currently hardly used in his home country: “It is still too expensive and the use of renewable energy is quite minimal.”

Immediately afterwards Maurice had an important appointment. Together with other activists from all over the world, he sat on the podium during a UNEP press conference and explained what the meeting meant to him. “I am delighted that we are able to network here and exchange information.”

An opportunity for the latter was provided by the group meetings in the afternoon. The exchange of ideas was particularly vivid in “a global tent village” which had been set up on the grassy roof of Bayer’s “Baykomm Information Centre”. There, the young Tunza participants gathered in their regional meetings (North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, West Asia and Asia-Pacific).

This division into regions really illustrated how varied the emphasis could be despite the fact that these were all global issues being discussed. In regions such as Asia-Pacific, the focus was on water supply, while in the European tent the attendees discussed energy consumption. A representative from the North American group, Heather Smith (22) from California, said: “It is important to find creative ways of increasing awareness on environmental issues.”

The programme was so densely packed that the participants were happy for every free and took advantage of such opportunities to play table tennis and tabletop football that had been set up for relaxation. In the evening participants were treated to a cruise ride and dinner along the Rhine. The ride gave them an opportunity to view sights along.

Press Photos

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Participants of the Tunza International Youth Conference at the Bayer incineration plant in Leverkusen.

                               
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Participants in front of the conference centre BayKomm, Leverkusen.

                               
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Participants of the Tunza International Youth Conference learned about the process of wastewater treatment at the Bayer site in Leverkusen.

                               
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Visit of the incineration plant at the Bayer site in Dormagen.

                               
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A group of Tunza participants visiting the incineration plant at the Bayer site in Dormagen.

                               
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A visit of the photovoltaic test laboratory of the T躒 Rheinland Group was one of the activities during the Tunza conference.

                               
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One of the excursions led participants of the Tunza International Youth Conference to the WINDTEST test field for inland wind energy plants in Grevenbroich.

http://www.tunza2007.unep.bayer.com/en/ConferenceDay2.aspx