The winners and runners-up teams from a quiz held as part of the World Environment Day (WED) celebrations this year are enjoying rubbing shoulders with top figures from the environment community.

Some 150 participants formed 25 teams for the fourth annual WED quiz, which was organised by the Geneva Environment Network and Brenda Koekkoek of UN Environment’s Chemicals Branch in June.

The quiz winners – the ‘Tree Huggers’ – were treated to lunch with Inger Andersen, Director General of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), at the organisation’s headquarters in Gland. The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification which the team members work for “play a vital role for sustainability,” Ms Andersen acknowledged after being impressed at the lunch.

Coming in second place, the ‘Mentalists’ quiz team meanwhile cycled to meet Mr Friis Bach for their lunch, with was made up of a menu of vegetarian and locally-sourced food. In a candid and warm exchange, the UNECE Head gave insight into his past experiences ranging from being a farmer to a journalist and mentioned his wish to further promote cycling among governments in the pan-European region.

As a prize for their third-placed finish, the International Institute for Sustainable Development news team – titled ‘Ubiquitous Establishment Persisting Prog’ - dined with Ms González Laya, Executive Director of the International Trade Centre. The team were highly grateful for their “wonderful” lunch with the ITC head, who has twenty years of experience in international trade issues to share and who has worked in an array of other organisations, including the European Commission.

IUCN’s own quiz team – the ‘Nature-based Geeks’ - meanwhile won a lunch with UN Environment’s Regional Director Jan Dusik, while WWF’s ‘Pandemonium’ team and ‘Quizness as Usual’ from UN Environment’s Economics and Trade Branch will spend time with Rolph Payet, Executive Secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions.

WED is UN Environment’s biggest event for awareness raising on the environment and is held on 5 June each year. The quiz held in Geneva was part of a medley of events highlighting the need to take care of our planet and, for the 2016 edition, the plight of wildlife.

For more information please contact diana.rizzolio@unep.org