Countdown to int’l environmental Olympiad begins

INEPO has traditionally been organized jointly under the leadership of the Nature Association, the Environment and Forestry Ministry, the Education Ministry, Fatih University and Fatih College and takes places in Turkey in late May or the first week of June, when World Environment Day is celebrated. The event, which aims to raise the bar of environmental awareness among young people, is attended by hundreds of young inventors from around the world every year. The Olympiad has five categories -- environmental biology, environmental chemistry, environmental health, social environment and environmental physics. The project is supported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The national elimination rounds for this year’s Olympiad were held on April 3-4 in İstanbul. Teenage inventors will compete against each other at the 18th National Environment Olympiad. The deadline for applications for the national leg of the Olympiad was Feb. 27. Of the 632 projects submitted from 54 provinces, 115 were selected as finalists at the pre-finals held at Fatih College’s Beykent campus on March 20.

İstanbul was the province that had the most applicants, with 124 projects, followed by Ankara (73), İzmir (58), Manisa (35), Ordu (22), Adana (20), Sakarya (19), Muğla (17), Batman (16) and Elazığ (15). The projects were evaluated by a jury of academics, and 115 projects -- 73 by high school students and 42 by middle school students -- and 193 contestants qualified to participate in the national finals. Some of the interesting and environmentally friendly projects that will compete in the finals are titled: “The breadbasket that prevents molding,” “Acquiring electricity from venetian blinds,” “Ecological and economical fish breeding,” “Banana production in the [southeastern] Muş Plain,” “Environmental toothbrush,” “Environmentally friendly crazy wash basin” and “Elevator without electricity.”

International finals to be held in May

As the project coordinator for INEPO, Ali Rıza Atasoy from Fatih College states that INEPO was first held in 1993 with the participation of eight countries. The number of countries participating increased every year with students from 41 countries competing in 2009.

Eighty-five teams from 41 countries attended the 17th INEPO competition. The students presented their proposals for solutions to environmental problems over the course of the three-day event and created slogans to promote preserving the environment. The Turkish delegation used “Our Lungs Want Oxygen” as its slogan.

Among the gold medalists last year were South Korean students Jeong Joon Park and Hong Jun Choi, who were awarded for their project “Investigation of Alteromonas MJU-11 and Micrococcus MJU-14 for the production of innovative renewable bioenergy.” Kwang Yil Koh and Tae Hyun Ahn, also from South Korea, received silver medals for their project on “Research on reuse, disposal and treatment of industrial waste using carbon dioxide gas.” A Pakistani group receive bronze medals for its new approach toward the treatment of liver diseases.

Turkey was represented by Habibe Turfan and Betül Kara from the private Maltepe Coşkun Science School with their project titled “A new perspective in photovoltaic systems: the insect eye system”; Mahmut Tarık Özkaya and Halil Çetiner from the private Yaşar Cimilli Çoşkun Primary School with their project titled “Obtaining plastic from conker starch”; Betülnur Özdemir and Benginur Özbay from the private Yüksel Sarıkaya Primary School with their project titled “Treasure tossed in the garbage”; and Ali Selman Aydın from Fatih Science School with his project titled “Eliminating garbage with a hydraulic transport system.”

The countries which participated in last year’s INEPO were Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burma, Ethiopia, Egypt, Estonia, Canada, Cyprus, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Latvia, Macedonia, Mongolia, Mexico, Moldova, Pakistan, Russia, Romania, South Korea, Slovakia, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, Tajikistan, Ukraine, England, Turkmenistan, the US and Vietnam.

As for this year’s competition, applications started on Feb. 1, and the application deadline is April 17. Finalist projects will be announced on April 24, and the competition will be held between May 19 and 22.