The launch of the Roots & Shoots Awards 2007

As part of the Jane Goodall Institute's Roots & Shoots programme, schools from across the UK were invited to London yesterday for the first ever Roots & Shoots Awards ceremony. They were honoured to meet Dr Jane Goodall (world famous chimpanzee expert and conservationist) and to present their projects.The event took place at the Louise T Blouin Institute - one of the largest not-for-profit cultural spaces in London and a showcase for established and emerging artists - recently opened in Notting Hill to promote creative thinking through culture.Students prepared creative showcases of their contribution in the area of people, animals and the environment and described to Dr. Goodall and the other participants what they had achieved, why it was important and how they would build on their work for the future preservation of the planet.Dr Goodall also gave a truly inspiring talk about how important this work was and how she hoped that schools in the UK would use her network to link to the other people involved in similar projects around the world.Schools were presented with certificates from Dr. Jane and a model Baobab tree made in Africa. A tree that is indigenous to the African continent and referred to as the Tree of Life in Africa, flowering on just one evening of the year.Dr Goodall travels 300 days of each year campaigning for the change needed to get us living in a sustainable manner. As she states, "we don't inherit the world from our ancestors - we borrow it from our children..."Roots & Shoots now has educational programs in over 100 countries with thousands of young people involved across the globe.