The Green-Schools Programme is excited to launch its newest poster competition: the Green-Schools Marine Spatial Planning Competition ‘Our Seas Our Future’ 2019.

The competition is open to schools who are currently working on, or have been awarded the Green Flag for, the Global Citizenship Marine Environment theme. This is the first year of the competition and there are some great prizes to be won. The deadline for entries is Friday, 29 March 2019.

The competition’s aim is to find out how the students of Ireland want our seas and oceans to be used in the future. The Department of Housing, Community and Local Government, who are supporting this competition, are working on Ireland’s Marine Spatial Planning Framework. Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) is a new way of looking at how we use the marine area and planning how best to use it into the future. MSP will try to balance the different demands for using the sea including the need to protect the marine environment. It’s about planning when and where human activities take place at sea, and about ensuring these activities are as efficient and sustainable as possible. After publishing a baseline report in 2018, the government are now looking for public participation, which will feed into, and shape, the final plan.

The competition asks students to create an A3 poster or a 3D model for submission, and there are three class-group categories: Junior primary (Junior infants-1st class), Senior Primary (2nd-6th class) and Secondary.

Don’t forget to share your school’s poster ideas and inspiration with @GreenSchoolsIre and using #OurSeasOurFuture on Twitter and Instagram. We hope you enjoy taking part in the competition and look forward to receiving your entries.