Holding up a picture he drew, Zhu Heibai, a primary school pupil from Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province, explained what he thought the Earth should be like.

"The Earth should be green, with blue sky and clear water," Zhu told a panel of judges on Sunday at the Huangchenggen Primary School in downtown Beijing.

Zhu was participating in the finals of the symbolic flag design contest with the theme "The environment is my nature and my health," part of the "Flags around the World" campaign launched by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and French-based Veolia Environment, a world-leading environmental protection company.

The campaign is aimed at increasing children's awareness of environmental protection and to collect messages from children around the world.

Primary school pupils from 30 countries, including France, Germany and the United States, have participated in the campaign since January.

Each country selects a national winner whose design will be sent to Paris and printed on flags that will be hoisted in 100 cities worldwide on June 5 World Environment Day.

Zhu was one of the seven youngsters to reach the finals in China. More than 3,000 pupils from around the country prepared their own designs showing the relationship between the environment and health.

Zhu's design features the English word "Green" drawn to look like both the Earth and a boy's smiling face.

"If the environment of the Earth is healthy, then it will smile; otherwise it will weep," he told the panel of officials and experts from UNESCO, Veolia and China.

Zhu said the environment was one of his favourite topics. "I hate to see garbage in the streets, because it endangers our health," he said.

"From TV and newspapers, I've learned that many trees around the world are being cut down and many rivers polluted. If we do not protect the environment, we will have nowhere to live," he said.

The judges were obviously impressed, as they declared Zhu the national winner from China.

"Protecting the environment needs concrete action, and I hope my design will convey the message to people of all ages around the globe," he said, with excitement in his voice on finding out he had won.

Feeling unlucky to have lost, Xu Xinyi, a girl from Baoji in Shaaxi Province, cried in front of the judges, who were quick to console her.

"My classmates and I thought I had drawn the best design. Now I have lost and they will be disappointed," she said with tears running down her face.

Her picture shows two hands wrapped around the Earth. She said it was meant to tell people the Earth needs tender care.

"The deserts are coming closer to our farmland and cities. We need to plant more trees to stop the deserts," she said, pledging she would continue to draw for environmental protection even though she failed to win the contest.

Xu Liping, a girl from Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province in the south, entered a design called "The Earth is crying." It depicts piles of buildings heaped on the Earth with wild animals falling off them.

"There are too many buildings on the Earth, and there will be no space for wild animals to live, so Mother Earth feels sad," she said.

China's economy has been developing rapidly over the last two decades much to the detriment of the environment which has been seriously damaged.

To reverse the trend, the government has pledged tougher measures to protect the environment and to ensure co-ordinated economic, social and environmental development.

"I have seen the determination of the Chinese Government and the people to tackle environmental issues, and I believe the problems can be solved with increased effort," said Jorge Mora, president of Onyx Asia, a division of Veolia.

(China Daily April 11, 2005)