Background Today’s children are tomorrow’s potential polluters. If society fails to encourage children to adopt environmentally aware behaviour then their future will be bleak. It is important to try to help them understand where their energy comes from, why species are in danger of extinction, why water is becoming scarce and, most importantly, how their behaviour could offset the potentially devastating effects of climate change. Communication barriers must be overcome, however, when trying to present such serious issues to children. The project’s idea is therefore to translate the messages into a medium that children find captivating. Children are visual by nature and love cartoons and cartoon characters. Cartoon animation is quick to the point and because it can cross gender, age, linguistic and cultural barriers it can have an impact on a broad range of audiences. Animated characters can also provide role models for children. Although children can only be expected to respond to simple environmental messages, these are fundamental to a later understanding of the more complex issues concerning energy, climate change, water resources, natural resources etc. Thus working with European children in this way is an investment for the future. The project is relevant throughout Europe: children in the chosen target age group are similar across Europe, broadly have the same interests, have not yet developed a strong national identity and are also a ‘sponge’ for information. The real challenge for the project is to produce a cartoon character that has a common appeal across all European countries. The need for the project is supported both from an institutional point of view through the work of the European Commission and also from a scientific point of view through the work of bodies such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Objectives Eco-Animation aimed to engage European children between 5-8 years old with simple environmental messages about the environment, sustainability and climate change delivered through the popular medium of cartoons. The cartoon animations planned to show that small actions (e.g. using less water, asking where your food comes from, recycling, turning off switches etc) can improve quality of life and our future. Eco-Animation aimed to help children adopt environmentally sustainable behaviour and indirectly raise awareness among adults by showing them that they can change the world with their own simple actions. The specific objectives of Eco-Animation were to: Find out what messages work best with European children between 5-8 years old; Directly engage with these children through a medium which they enjoy watching; Indirectly reach their teachers and families to raise awareness on climate change and sustainable use of water and natural resources.The project partners aimed to develop the content of the programme, establish a pedagogic evaluation committee to get feedback from children during production, prepare a 24-minute animation and promote the project and the products through an integrated communication and dissemination plan. The animated cartoon would be produced in English and translated into three languages which cover the languages of the focus groups of children involved in the pedagogic evaluation (Italian, Romanian and Portuguese). The final cartoon would be distributed through European television channels and export opportunities would be considered. The intention was to reach a target audience of about 3.5 million children, teachers and parents across Europe. Results The project developed a successful methodology, which combined the skills of the partners, to produce three episodes of the ‘My Friend Boo’ cartoon series and accompanying teaching packs. Initially, WWF advised on the theme of water conservation and provided background notes for the animators and educators. The first messages and the developing cartoon characters and storylines were tested with children aged 5-8 in five EU countries. This part of the project was coordinated by Explora, the children’s museum of Rome, with partner museums in Ireland, Belgium, Poland and Bulgaria. Three questionnaires were evaluated to test the children’s understanding of the issues and their enjoyment of the cartoon. A team of skilled animators worked to translate the messages into three episodes of the ‘My Friend Boo’ cartoon series. Boo is a magic toy dog who takes his friends on adventures to show them the consequences of pollution, water shortage and waste. The kids meet a talkative vole called Victoria whose riverbank home has been abandoned by animals and humans because a local factory isn’t taking care of its waste; they visit Klexus to see if they can help to save water on her planet, and they take a ride down a river bank to look at the ‘bigger picture’ where they see the damage that chemicals and dam-building can have on local wildlife but also what we can do to make the world a better place.The communication agency, Business Solutions Europa, co-ordinated the project communication work and secured broadcasting deals with European TV companies. The methodology used for the project has worked well. The ‘My Friend Boo’ series (launched through the YES project) is innovative, as a whole new cartoon series has been created with main characters and secondary characters. The project partners would like to see My Friend Boo continue with new episodes on different themes supported and supporting new commercial avenues. The project has also demonstrated good cost-effectiveness. The three animations produced through Eco-Animation benefitted from some of the start-up costs for My Friend Boo being covered by the YES project. Once a series has been established future episodes can be produced on a relatively low budget, and the dubbing into different languages is much easier using a cartoon medium. Moreover, the cartoon series can easily be transferred to other countries and even other cultures as the messages are relatively simply and are global. For example, with a grant under the EuropeAid programme 'Broadcasting the EU', nine episodes have been dubbed into Macedonian and Albanian along with teaching packs, potentially reaching 10 million households. The project has already secured broadcasting rights in Vietnam and has plans to secure deals in Canada and the US. By the end of the project broadcasting deals had been secured in 19 countries, in 17 languages, reaching a potential audience of 25 million households. The project has well exceeded its initial targets to reach 3 million children, half a million adults (parents etc) and 800 teachers. However, 443 children were directly involved in focus groups (less than the 500 planned). A post-project communication plan will continue to seek broadcasting deals with other EU countries and throughout the world. Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Communication Plan (see "Read more" section).