MORE than 100 children became environmental detectives for a day during a series of conferences in Stourport organised by the county council.

The Learning for Sustainability Eco Schools Conferences were held at the Bishops Wood Centre in Stourport to focus on causes and prevention of pollution.

The theme centred on being an environmental detective and pupils were presented with a mocked-up ‘crime’ involving the discovery of dead fish in a lake and had to follow clues to work out what had happened.

Realistic scenarios included a farmer spreading too much pesticide and a recent episode of fly tipping which resulted in chemicals entering the water.

The detective work involved listening to recorded interviews or questioning people representing local fishermen and businesses, which gave pupils a great understanding of the environmental and community impact.

Pupils also planned a poster campaign aimed at preventing different types of pollution.

Councillor Anthony Blagg, cabinet member for the environment, said: “The Eco Schools Conferences are primarily aimed at schools as a reward to their eco committees for all their hard work over the year.

“We wanted our young eco warriors to get an understanding about the causes and prevention of pollution on a wider scale as well as getting them to think about combating types of pollution they might encounter locally in their daily lives.”