A Dutch school group designed a range of postage stamps with environmental themes, Russian students described a research expedition down the Volga and young South Africans outlined wide-ranging projects on waste recycling.
Swedes described the most recent impact of acid rain, Israelis reported on the condition of the Dead Sea and a Scottish girl created "environmental sculptures" which could lead tourists more easily into an appreciation of the beauty of nature.
All were part of the material presented during the 12th annual Caretakers of the Environment conference, which began in Waterford on June 28th and concluded last weekend in Coleraine, Co Derry.
Over 200 delegates, a mixture of environmental teachers and students from 27 countries, took part in the week-long conference. While in Waterford the delegates went on several field trips to examine aspects of the environment in the south-east region and produce suggestions for better conservation and management.
They looked at coastal zone management in Bannow Bay, Dunmore East and Tramore, aquaculture at Woodstown and Passage East, reed beds at Kilmeaden, a proposed wind turbine development at Kilfarrassy and a range of waste management and natural resources projects.
A highlight of the conference was an inspirational keynote address by John Feehan, from the UCD Department of Environmental Resource Management, who vividly portrayed the impoverishment of human experience caused by the erosion of biodiversity - the inexorable elimination by man of those few remaining places where nature flourishes in the wild state.
"Biodiversity, habitat diversity, diversity of landscape are being squeezed from our experience so slowly that we are not aware of a critical threshold, or the numbing effect on us of this gradual reduction," he told his audience at Newtown School.
"The experience of woods carpeted with wood anemones and bluebells, where the singing of the birds at dawn catches the heart, should be part of the birthright of every child: the opportunity to catch for a moment an echo of the magic and wonder of the woods of that deeper childhood," he said.
We were witnessing the greatest haemorrhaging of life's diversity that the Earth had ever seen, Mr Feehan said. Winning the hearts and minds of the public and its leadership were essential to improve care of the environment.
People needed to rekindle their capacity for experiencing wonder, inspiration and joy of contact with the natural world and its many creatures. This could only be achieved by increasing awareness, which must be based on personal experience.
The conference assembled a list of detailed practical recommendations, which will be passed on to local authorities and relevant Government Departments.