The Regional Secretary for the Environment and the Sea will organise, in partnership with the Volcanological and Geothermal Observatory of the Azores and the local ecoteca, the 8th Regional Seminar of Eco-Schools/Young Reporters for the Environment. The seminar will take place at the Secondary School of Lagoa on the 21st and 22nd of March. 

The seminar is meant for teachers involved in the co-ordination of these programmes, environmental experts and technicians working for municipalities, non-governmental organisations (NGO's) and to all professionals involved in Environmental Education or Sustainable Development Education.  

As in previous years, the Regional Secretariat for the Environment hopes that the seminar is a meeting point for the sharing of experiences among participants. 

Given the fact that younger generations are more actively involved in civic and environmental education, in as much as they are more directly exposed to the Eco-Schools and Young Reporters for the Environment programmes, the participants in this event will acquire new knowledge thus enhancing their for a more environmentally responsible society. 

The Eco-Schools and the Young Reporters for the Environment are international projects of environmental education organised by the Foundation for Environmental Education. In Portugal, these projects are co-ordinated by the European Association Bandeira Azul and implemented in the Azores with the collaboration of the Regional Secretariat for the Environment and the Sea.  

Climate change is the theme of Eco-Schools programme for this year. Consequently, the schools that will participate in the seminar have committed themselves to organising activities about this theme and others that are part of the curricula: Water, Residues and Energy. 

The success of the Eco-Schools Programme in the Region is a well recognised fact, with 75 awards granted in the past school year. In 2008-09, 106 schools from the basic, secondary, vocational training and special education have adhered to the programme and implemented the recommendations of Agenda 21, through the application of the concepts and ideas of environmental education in the schools. The Project Young Reporters for the Environment has been adopted and implemented by 11 Azorean schools. 

For the second time, the Regional Secretariat for the Environment will bring to the Azores the "Extension of Cine Eco 2008, Festival of Cinema and Video of Serra  da Estrela", an international festival dedicated to the Environment that presents another facet of contemporary cinema, exhibiting less well-known films that can not be seen in the commercial circuit.
 
Those that participate in the 8th Regional Seminar of Eco-Schools/Young Reporters for the Environment, will have the opportunity to watch films that received awards in the Festival CineEco 2008. 

On the evening of the 21st of March, the films that won the Prize CineEco 2008 "In Construction", by Zhenchen Liu and the film that won the Prize "Environmental Education", "Deserts in Movement-Europa", by Ingo Herbst, will be shown. 

The second  event  "Extension Azores" of this Festival starts on the 3 April on the island of São Miguel. 

The programme of this years' Extension will include 24 films and documentaries that will be shown in Ribeira Grande on the 3rd, 6th and 8th of April. The cinema sessions for young kids shall take place on the 25 and 27 of March in the municipalities of Vila Franca, Ribeira Grande and Ponta Delgada.
 
After visiting the island of São Miguel, the "Extension" will visit the islands of Terceira, Pico and Faial on dates that will be announced beforehand.