Introduction and background

The National Art Competition for primary school learners was held in April and May 2016 to increase awareness about the harmful effects of certain human activities on the environment.

The competition entitled “The Future in Our Hands:  Helping the Green Scorpions Protect Our Planet” aimed at increasing collaboration between the Department’s Environmental Management Inspectorate (EMI), commonly known as the Green Scorpions, and the youth in combating environmental crime.  It also had the additional objective of highlighting the positive role that the youth can play in supporting the Green Scorpions fulfil their Constitutional Mandate.

The National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) entrenches the Constitutional Right of all South Africans to have the environment protected for the benefit of present and future generations, through reasonable legislative and other measures that promote conservation and use of natural resources.  The Green Scorpions are tasked under NEMA with ensuring that all South Africans have access to an environment that is not harmful to their health and well-being.

The Green Scorpions is a network of environmental compliance and enforcement officials from national, provincial and municipal government who all share the same legislative powers and duties, and are tasked with ensuring that there is adherence to national environmental legislation.

The schools art competition focused on three categories: Green (biodiversity/conservation), Blue (oceans/coast) and Brown (pollution/ waste) issues.Entrants could select to participate in any of the three categories and were required to illustrate the bad and good things people do to the environment.

Approximately 500 entries were received from schools across the country.  The winners were selected by an adjudication committee that evaluated the entrant’s artistic skills, presentation, relevance, originality, and took into consideration the learner’s grade.

The top 5 winners per category will each received a goodie bag and their artwork will be published in the Green Scorpion’s 2015/16 National Environment Compliance and Enforcement Report, the Department’s internal magazine, Environment Quarterly, as well as on various social media platforms.