KUALA LUMPUR: TWO young Malaysians who expressed their passion to protect the environment through creative projects won a week-long all-expenses-paid environmental study trip to Germany.

The two were among the 12 university students nationwide who received the Bayer Young Environmental Envoy award.

They were Nur Hazirah Aqilah Ramli, 24, from Universiti Putra Malaysia and Wan Nurhidayat Wan Muhamad, 21, from Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia.

Nur Hazirah Aqilah won the hearts of the judges with her project to reduce water usage at her faculty through a rainwater harvesting system.

The project aimed to educate the community on the importance of water conservation as the stored rainwater is used to water plants and in cleaning activities.

Wan Nurhidayat's project was to instil environmental awareness in military personnel.

He conducted a series of awareness campaign and managed to reach more than 1,800 cadet officers and military staff in his university and 700 outside the varsity.

The prime minister's wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, who presented the awards, said that such recognition would continue to draw more people to the cause of environmental protection.

"I am heartened by the resourcefulness and the passion our youth have shown and expressed through the programme."

The Bayer Youth Environmental Envoy programme is a global flagship project under the Bayer-United Nations Environment Programme partnership to raise environmental awareness among young people and support them in their ecological pursuits.