17-YEAR-OLD NIGERIAN WINS EARTH PRIZE FOR TRANSFORMING WASTE SITE

At 17, Amara Nwuneli has turned an environmental problem in Lagos into a practical community solution, transforming a neglected, waste-filled site into a green recreational space built largely from reclaimed materials.

Her work through Preserve Our Roots earned her the 2025 Africa Winner recognition in The Earth Prize, a global competition designed to identify and support young people developing solutions to environmental challenges.

Amara’s project has attracted international attention because it combines environmental restoration, youth education and community recreation. The award came with $12,500, which she planned to use to expand the project and develop additional community parks in Nigeria.

FROM FLOOD EXPERIENCE TO ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION

Amara’s environmental activism was influenced by personal experience. Her family was affected by flooding in 2020, an experience that strengthened her interest in environmental challenges and climate action.

That experience eventually informed the work of Preserve Our Roots, a youth-led initiative focused on environmental awareness, climate education and community action. Her organisation’s work has since expanded beyond advocacy to practical projects that demonstrate what young people can do with discarded materials and neglected spaces.

TURNING WASTE INTO A COMMUNITY PARK

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One of Amara’s most notable projects involved transforming a neglected site in Ikota, Lagos, into a green community park. The project used recycled and reclaimed materials, including discarded tyres, metal and wood, to create recreational facilities.

The idea was straightforward but ambitious: take a space associated with waste and neglect and turn it into a useful environment where children could play, learn and reconnect with nature.

The Earth Prize described the initiative as a project that transforms underserved urban sites into green community hubs.

$12,500 TO EXPAND THE VISION

Amara’s African regional victory came with a $12,500 award.Reports said she planned to use the funding to build three additional parks in Nigeria.

The proposed expansion includes communities in Lagos, Ogun and Oyo, with the parks envisioned as multifunctional spaces incorporating gardens, greenhouses and waste collection facilities.

The objective goes beyond providing playgrounds. The projects are intended to demonstrate how neglected urban spaces can be reclaimed while promoting environmental education, community participation and climate resilience.

A YOUNG NIGERIAN ON A GLOBAL STAGE

Amara’s achievement is significant because The Earth Prize attracts young environmental innovators from around the world. The Earth Prize’s own announcement identified her as its 2025 Africa Winner and said her project had transformed an underserved urban site into a green community hub.

She was selected from a global pool of young applicants competing for recognition for environmental solutions. Her achievement has consequently placed a Nigerian youth-led environmental project on an international platform.

MORE THAN A PLAYGROUND

The significance of the project lies in its demonstration of a different way of approaching urban environmental problems. Waste, abandoned spaces and inadequate access to green areas are often treated as separate problems.

Amara’s model attempts to address them together. Waste materials become construction resources. An abandoned area becomes a community space. Children receive a recreational environment, while residents are exposed to sustainability and climate education.

Preserve Our Roots describes its wider mission as youth-led environmental and social advocacy aimed at making climate action more accessible.

YOUTH AND NIGERIA’S ENVIRONMENTAL FUTURE

Amara’s story comes at a time when Nigeria faces increasingly visible environmental pressures, including flooding, waste management challenges, urban expansion and the loss of green spaces.

Her work does not solve those problems on its own, but it demonstrates how community-level innovation can complement larger government and institutional interventions.

ValidViewNetwork reports that Amara’s Earth Prize recognition has provided both financial support and international visibility for a project that began with the simple idea of reclaiming neglected spaces for community use.

The broader lesson is that environmental action does not always begin with large institutions or expensive infrastructure. Sometimes, it begins when a young person looks at a neglected space, sees a problem others have accepted and decides to turn it into an opportunity.