Teen Wins $12,500 for Constructing Recycled Playground, Plans 3 Extra Parks

An adolescent in Nigeria simply received a global award for utilizing recycled supplies to rework a trash-dumping floor right into a park with a playground, and he or she’s not stopping there.

On Wednesday, 17-year-old Amara Nwuneli was awarded $12,500 within the 2025 Earth Prize competitors, which casts a worldwide internet for youngsters engaged on initiatives for environmental sustainability. This system offers mentorship and help for teenagers like Nwuneli to additional develop their concepts.

Nwuneli mentioned she plans to make use of the prize cash to construct three extra parks.

“I am excited for the long run,” she instructed Enterprise Insider.

She needs to create extra inexperienced areas and shade in Lagos, a metropolis of 17 million individuals the place lower than 3% of the land space is inexperienced, in response to a 2023 evaluation.

As cities get hotter throughout the planet, inexperienced area is vital. Timber and vegetation present shade, which cools the bottom, however in addition they assist replicate daylight away and launch moisture. In contrast to pavement, inexperienced areas do not take up a lot warmth, however they do take up rainwater and assist scale back flooding.

Parks and greenery are additionally good for human well being. Research recommend they may also help lower air pollution publicity, enhance temper, and even scale back mortality.

Turning a dump right into a playground

Nwuneli grew to become involved concerning the local weather disaster after floods overwhelmed her residence in 2020, displacing her household. She mentioned her mother and father’ spice enterprise was affected too, for the reason that rains washed away crops.

As a self-described “theater child,” she needed to get the story out, so she began recording and sharing movies concerning the floods. She says her efforts raised 2 million Nigerian Naira (roughly $5,000 in 2020 {dollars}) to assist rebuild two native faculties.

That was the start of the youth NGO she based, known as Protect Our Roots. They produced a documentary concerning the local weather disaster in Africa in 2023, which you’ll watch on Youtube.

She mentioned the response to her documentary made her need to assist Nigerians join extra with the setting.

“Individuals got here to us and was like, however I do not see it in my neighborhood. I do not see nature,” Nwuneli mentioned.

So the group determined to convey the character residence — beginning with a small park that would not require a prolonged authorities approval course of.

At a web site in Ikota, Nigeria, Nwuneli labored with native artisans to acquire reclaimed metallic and wooden, in addition to tires that have been laying across the space, to construct a slide, swings, and climbing wall.

The realm, which Nwuneli described as a slum, is flood-prone. Certainly, lots of the surrounding homes are constructed on stilts, she mentioned. So, with the assistance of donations and volunteers, Nwuneli’s NGO planted flood-resistant bushes across the playground — amongst 300 bushes she says they planted throughout the broader space.

They first homed in on this dump web site in November. On March 1, they opened the park for schoolchildren.

“I keep in mind when the kids have been like, ‘now one thing we will really name lovely.’ It type of broke my coronary heart,” Nwuneli mentioned.

In her eyes, although, that is only a pilot park.

A Central Park for Lagos

With the Earth Prize funding, Nwuneli is planning three extra parks. They will not be playgrounds just like the one which opened in March, she says, however multi-functional neighborhood hubs with gardens, greenhouses, and waste assortment websites.

She’s aiming to transform a big landfill in Lagos, pending authorities approval. For the opposite two parks, she’s focusing on the neighboring Nigerian states of Ogun and Oyo, that are additionally experiencing floods and droughts that may possible worsen as international temperatures rise.

“I am not glad. I really feel like each neighborhood wants this,” Nwuneli mentioned.

Her final dream, she added, is to have a Central Park in Lagos.

The Earth Prize chooses winners for seven world areas. Nwuneli is the winner for Africa. A public vote opens on Saturday to pick a worldwide winner.