Round Up from COP15 and what lies ahead

Personal testimonies given to our Young Reporters at COP 15:
“It’s great to see so many young people at the summit. They are right to say ‘this is our world too, you elders have made a mess of things and should get out of the way’.” Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu

"Young people are not just the audience - you are the activists. When millions of people come together, we can make a real difference. I get more letters and emails about climate change than any other issue. There is a real pressure from young people to do something about it,” Gordon Brown, UK Prime Minister

“To bring about a change, children can make a tremendous change in the question of mitigating climate change,” Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

“Thousands of young people care about the outcome of this conference. They all want their future to be safer,” Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

“It is very important that children are involved at this conference because it encourages them to understand the full meaning of the convention on the rights of the child and secondly in my experience children are communicating in a skillful way with each other and together, “ Mary Robinson, former Irish President

“I think it is really important that children’s voices are heard because it is your future we are talking about and you need to solve it by yourself because we are not going to solve your problems miraculously,” John Holmes, UN ions Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator

“I would hope they (children) would be there,” John Kerry, former US Presidential candidate.
“It is crucial that children and young people participate. And for us adults, it is of great importance that we think about that it is you who are young, and those who are actually not yet born, that we are now making decisions for,” Åsa-Britt Karlsson, Swedish Environment State Secretary

Kenyan Environment Minister John Michuki walked hand-in-hand with 12-year old Plan supported reporter Joseph & invited him to come to his office in Nairobi to discuss more.

“Let’s not wait while they talk … we have a generation that won’t wait,” Josette Sheeran, Executive Director World Food Programme:

“It’s a right to participate – but it’s also just smart to listen,” Ulla Tornaes, Minister for Development Cooperation, Denmark: on children’s participation

Moving forward – what Plan is now calling for:
Plan calls on UNFCCC decision makers to take the following measures to promote intergenerational justice:
• Acknowledge children as official stakeholders, providing formal mechanisms for children to
join the dialogue and contribute to decision making on climate change.
• Guide national delegations on how to facilitate consultations with children on climate
change decision-making.
• Ensure full accountability for commitments made on mitigation and adaptation, by
developing monitoring and evaluation mechanisms which provide for the contribution of
children’s views.
• Encourage civil society organisations engaged in climate change to establish formal
mechanisms for children’s participation.
• Emphasise the significance of children – in terms of differentiated impacts and children’s
‘agency’ – within the 5th IPCC Assessment Report.
• Insist that governments must invest more in education so future generations have the
knowledge and skills to better manage our environment and adapt to climate change.

Children report on the disappointing outcome of COP 15

‘Hope for a deal is up to the children’ Maldives president tells young reporters
The leader of one of the islands most threatened by climate change said children can play a key part in clinching a deal at Copenhagen.

Al Gore defends Obama's climate change work
International climate campaigner Al Gore has hit out at critics of the US government who say the superpower is still not doing enough to tackle climate change.

Island nations demand ocean protection
Protecting the oceans must not be overlooked in the fight against climate change, the Indonesian head of a new coalition of island nations told the Copenhagen talks.

'Get out the way elders,' Tutu tells conference
Archbishop Desmond Tutu today praised young people for fighting for climate justice in Copenhagen.

UK energy minister "frustrated" by talks
As the climate change talks in Copenhagen continue, young journalists Aakash and Annie tracked down and questioned the minister leading the negotiations for the UK.

for more information see: http://plan-international.org/what-we-do/child-participation/child-media/copenhagen-climate-talks-giving-children-a-voice

Children set homework for adults at COP15 climate conference

Side event puts children back on the map of UNFCCC negotiations
At the only event at COP15 to focus on the rights and capacities of children in responding to climate change, children from Indonesia, Kenya and the UK called upon governments to listen to communities, especially children in reducing risks to disasters.
‘Children around the world are unrepresented and we feel our voices are not heard or considered by the leaders or governments.' Said Beatrice, 13, from Kenya.
Reina, 13, from Indonesia said, ‘International conferences such as this are the place that governments and children can work in unity.'
The side event organised by the Children in a Changing Climate coalition, on Tuesday 15 December, made efforts to restore the voice and rights of children in the Conference of Parties. Chaired by Margareta Wahlström, UN Assistant Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction, presenters highlighted how children around the world are actively engaging with adaptation to climate change and reducing the risk of disasters caused by a changing climate.
IDS Research Fellow Tom Tanner presented examples of how children are already playing active roles as agents of change in their communities to reduce risks and adapt to climate change.


Children have rights and responsibilities
A new report Children and Disaster Risk Reduction: Taking stock and moving forward (pdf) presents 16 case studies of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) involving children. These case studies sit along a continuum of child involvement from building children's knowledge to child-led action reflecting different scales of child leadership.
The report - by IDS and Agulhas: Applied Knowledge for UNICEF and the Children in a Changing Climate coalition - proposes that concerted effort is now required to enable child-led DRR to transform policies.
Leon, 17, from the UK stressed that the Convention on the Rights of the Child gives children rights, and it also gives them responsibilities. Beatrice said ‘given the opportunity, the education and the resources, we have the potential to make a difference and take control.'

Homework for Governments
Margareta Wahlstrom challenged the audience to identify concrete actions to strengthen children's voice and proposed that ten percent of participants in the UN Climate Change Negotiations should be children.
The three young participants set homework for the Governments to prioritise children's action to reduce risks and to include DRR in national curriculums. NGO's were called upon to help bring children and governments closer together to address the challenges of climate change. Download your homework!

see events presentations here

Young Leaders of tomorrow dialogue with Leaders of Today on Climate Change

Children from Kenya, Indonesia and the Netherlands dialogue with heads of Humanitarian agencies on the impact of climate change on disasters and child rights.

Leaders of today included Mary Robinson, John Holmes and Jet Li
together with the head of IFRC and WFP.

The Event was hosted by Danish Newspaper Politiken on Tuesday December 15, 2009 to mark the COP 15's Humanitarian Day
Opening Statement was delivered by Ulla Tornaes, Minister for Development Cooperation, Denmark

"Children are in the frontline and their rights should be to the fore" - So said the former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, to Marius, 16 from Netherlands before a packed auditorium at the Politiken Haus, Copenhagen.
Both were participating in an intergenerational dialogue entitled Young Leaders of Today: Leaders of Tomorrow hosted by Politiken, a leading Danish newspaper. The event was part of the Humanitarian Day activities taking place in Copenhagen as part of the UNFCCC fifteenth Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP15). Ms Robinson and Marius were just two on a panel of twelve made up of six young people together with six leaders of humanitarian agencies.
A wake up to reality
Joseph, 12, from Kenya and Ivalu, 15, from Greenland both shared their experiences of how climate change was already impacting their communities, family livelihoods and their futures. Joseph dreams of becoming an engineer but, as things are today, is unlikely to see his dream realised - his family need his help to try and produce food from drought ridden lands, keeping him from his studies. Ivalu sees her traditional culture melting away alongside the ice as traditional hunters and fishermen migrate to the cities for work. They challenged the panel to help their communities and to ensure that they can grow up in a world where they have a history to inherit and a future ahead of them.
"We are in a pickle" agreed Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme. The world, she said, has woken up too slowly and a generation of children could be lost as a result. John Holmes, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief openly recognised this as a challenge, and said that whilst the root causes of climate change need to be tackled, in the short-term changes to the climate are not going to be stopped. He then emphasised that we do already have the knowledge to reduce disaster impact and build resilience to change - but it must be mobilised better at the community level.
Ulla Tørnæs, Denmark's Minister for Development Cooperation responded that the COP15 negotiations were aiming to do just that; both tackle the root causes of climate change and develop the means to support communities, including children, to adapt.
A question of governance
Further stories from young people raised the issue of government accountability in responding to climate change. Arame, 24, from Senegal shared her experience of a community made increasingly vulnerable to climate impacts as a result of ‘bad government decisions', whilst Dita, 16, from Indonesia shared her frustration following her attempts to ask the Government to act on climate change. Supported by Xiao, 23, from China they asked the panel how they could work together to make the voices of vulnerable people, including children, heard and how they, as children and young people, could support them in their struggle.
All the adult panel members stressed that more linkages should be made between sectors and with children and their communities so that by bringing different perspectives to the same problem, the call to act would be strengthened.
A smart way of working
The meeting's Chair, Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, Secretary-General Save the Children, summed up some of the debate claiming that those who only think of children needing protection will ‘lose out'. She recognised that whilst children's participation is a right, they also have solutions to offer. So really, "it's just smart to listen to children and youth".
The overwhelming message to tomorrow's leaders from the leaders of today was that they should be proud of and continue to do what they are already doing - bringing the voice of children and vulnerable people into dialogue with others.
The young panellists were encouraged not to wait for political decisions but to use their energy and creativeness to begin solving the problems whilst the world's leaders talk.

Margareta Wahlström to chair Child-led Climate Change Adaptation Event

Monday Madness at COP 15

Taken by our young reporter Carl (16yrs), from Sweden

Research Findings on Plan's work with Children is shared at D&C Days

Today, at the COP's Development and Climate Days - Dr Thomas Tanner from the Institute of Development Studies shared findings from his research work with Plan in the event's session on "Children at the heart of community-based responses to climate change".

Click here for more information on the lessons learnt and recommendations of the research focused on Plan's child centred DRR work in El Salvador and Philippines



At the D&C Film Festival on Monday, December 14th - Plan also screened the Participatory Videos on Climate Change produced by Children in the Philippines
see:

Flood: Menace to EducationBarobo,
The sinking Barangay
The Pock-marked Face of Barangay Caga-ut

Children on the frontline share their experience at the COP's EU Side Event

In marking the COP's Youth Day celebration today, children on the front-line of climate change shared their experience at the EU side event facilitated by Plan International, UNICEF and Children in a Changing Climate.

The children included:
Tariqul, 16 year old from Bangladesh
Darwin, 17 year old from Bolivia
Kandwani, 17 year old from Zambia
Marie Loise, 16 year old from Haiti

Watch their presentation and call for action here: http://www.se2009.eu/en/1.26148

COP Opens with Children's Rights as a Key Concern

Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, on Monday told the Copenhagen conference in his opening address the story of Nyi Lay -- a 6 year old boy from Myanmar who lost his parents and his younger brother during Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar. Yvo de Boer called on COP negotiators to "ensure that millions of children across the world don’t suffer the same fate as Nyi Lay." Read Yvo de Boer's opening speech here here

Plan UK's CEO shares her message to COP delegates

Young Reporters from the UK join Plan at THE WAVE

Aakash, Annie and Leon joined the more than 50,000 people who came together on Saturday, December 5th, to demand action from the UK Government and global leaders on climate change at The Wave, the biggest ever UK climate change march.

See Plan's Wave at http://www.the-wave.org.uk/with/466

Young People's Question Time Event in the UK with senior Cabinet Ministers

Children in the UK got the opportunity to put their questions on Climate Change to senior UK Cabinet Ministers today, just days before the Copenhagen climate negotiations begin.
80 young people in the UK - including our Young Reporters Aakash, Annie and Leon together with Rose from Plan UK's Youth Advisory Panel- had an exclusive opportunity to share their views in a Question Time event with a high level panel of UK Ministers, including Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

Rose got a positive commitment from Mr Miliband to her question:

"Article 12 of the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child states that children and young people should have the right to participate freely in all matters affecting them. Climate change certainly affects children – especially in the developing world – so does the Prime Minister agree that his Government should introduce young people as advisers on this vital issue, putting young people right at the heart of the government?"

See: http://www.actoncopenhagen.decc.gov.uk/en/ambition/achievements/december/youth-question-time/

Aakash, Annie, Leon and Rose generated a lot of media coverage see:
http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6029106 http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/environmental-change/question-time-debate-/ http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page21609http://www.actoncopenhagen.decc.gov.uk/en/ambition/achievements/december/youth-question-time

And Watch their one-on-one interview with UK's Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Mr Ed Miliband:
http://www.vimeo.com/7985595

Meet the 10 Young Reporters attending COP15

From the UK
Annie, 15 yrs, from Gloucester is one of two teenagers chosen to represent UK youngsters after winning a national competition to go to the COP15. She has since been interviewed by BBC Gloucester Radio on her passion for Climate Change awareness. She talks about what she intends to ask world leaders and why.

Listen to her BBC Gloucester Radio interview: Annie comes in at 1:24:00!
Her piece also features within the BBC News channel
And see her video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDOy9JhnvDU&feature=youtube_gdata


Aakash, 16 yrs, from London will be joining Annie at the COP15. Since he was seven years old he's had an interest in climate change. "When I learnt about deforestation and recycling, I went home and I insisted that we recycled everything that I got my hands on. As I have grown older and learnt more about the issue I have come to understand the dire effects it will have on OUR generation and how this is now one of the many fightings to save OUR planet."

Aakash has been sharing his views on COP15 on the BBC School Report
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/school_report/8389059.stm

Leon, 17 yrs, from Grimsby in the North East of the UK, is a member of Plan UK's Youth Advisory Panel. He is interested in youth participation as well as climate change and has attended the Bonn UNFCCC intercessional in June 2008 and the EU Green Week in September 2009.

"Young people speak the truth and climate change threatens our future. Together we can change that whilst at the Copenhagen talks. It's time for young people to 'be a part of it'.
"Climate change will dictate our future. The issue of climate change is staring at us in the face, yet nothing is being done about it.
As the future, it's down to us to clean up the mess. So today we should be part of discussions and action on climate change," says Leon.

Read Leon's views on The Grimsby Telegraph:http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/news/Leon-s-climate-summit/article-1582005-detail/article.html


From Kenya
Joseph, 12yrs, is the youngest of the delegation, but that hasn't stopped him from being very active campaigning on climate change. He is a member of his Primary School Environmental Club, and has taken part in environmental conservation activities, and participated in shooting a BBC film on the effects of climate change.
"Joining the youth delegation to Copenhagen is important to me because it will improve my knowledge on how climate change has affected my country and the whole world. It will give me a chance to ask leaders from developed and developing countries what they are doing to reduce activities that lead to emission of harmful gases to the atmosphere. I am looking forward to also meet children and young people from other parts of the world," says Joseph.

Beatrice, 13yrs, lives with her older sister in a small village along the Nairobi-Mwingi highway. She has just completed her primary education and hopes to start secondary school next year.
She says of her home: "Kithyoko is a nice place but it is extremely dry... it is highly populated... so competition for resources and food is high."
Beatrice is hoping to learn a lot at Copenhagen: "I feel privileged to be part of the youth delegation for Copenhagen. I am hoping to do my best in representing the Kenyan children and and Africa at large.
"Given the opportunity, I shall express my feelings and views about climate change and how it is affecting the children of Africa. I will share the information I will gather from the conference with other children.
"I will share ideas with children from different countries on how to cope up with the effects of harsh climate and how to try to preserve the environment. We are the future leaders and if we understand the effects of climate change now, later in life we can save our countries," says Beatrice.


From Indonesia

Reina, 13yrs is from Jakarta . She is leading a student group at her school, aiming to educate children and young people in Indonesia about climate change.
"I want to be an‘agent of change’. Climate change is an important issue for young people in both developed and developing countries. For those in developed countries, it is important they are aware so that they can change its effects, like for example manage their electricity better, whereas for the young people in developing countries, it impacts their daily lives.
Climate change can result in natural disasters, such as drought and floods. All of these have very crucial effects on developing countries, such as my country, where we have recently experienced earthquakes."




Karida, 15yrs, is also from Jakarta where, "people are really friendly and the weather is almost always warm and sunny. Jakata is also multicultural... there is a lot of delicious food available," she says. Karida has previously represented her school at the South East Asia Model United Nations Conference. She is looking forward to seeing how the delegates represent their countries, and how they plan to deal with climate change at home and worldwide. "Climate change will affect my future," she adds.

Dita, 17 yrs, is from Angka Island. She says :"The place where I live now is in a dangerous condition. There are so many tin mining activities which cause serious damage to the environment. The tin miners just think about their today’s life. They do not care for future generations. Being a part of Plan’s young journalist delegation to Copenhagen is very important to me. By attending the COP conference I hope it will open my mind and lthat I earn from the many ideas on how to solve the bad impact of climate change and so we can do real action to rescue my island."




From Sweden
Carl, 16yrs, is from Uppsala, near Stockholm and believes "Everybody should take interest in national and international issues and take part in democratic processes. Climate change is one of those issues and children are a big part of populations all over the world. This experience is also important for my own development and learning in journalism, environment issues and politics. And of course, I have the best of expectations that this will be very challenging and a lot of fun.
The importance of climate change as an issue is a no-brainer. It especially concerns younger people as it is our world, the world of tomorrow, that will face the toughest outcomes of global warming. We see direct outcomes of climate change already today, which makes the call for action only more urgent."

Büsra, 17 yrs old, is originally from Turkey and lives in Stockholm with her family. She believes, "The time has come to do something about climate change and the unfairness in the world. I want to help change and be a part of the changes in the world. We know that many children don’t know their rights and haven’t the knowledge about what to do, to stop the consequences of climate change. They are intelligent, and if they get to know and spread what they know -- they can together make change. At home, I have converted my big family to a more climate smart family. I hope that, at Copenhagen, they will agree, and after the meeting really start working for climate change and children’s rights."




From the Netherlands


Marius, 16yrs, lives in a quiet neighborhood near the busy city of Rotterdam. "Climate change will have the deepest impact on young people and therefore we should be present at Copenhagen. And there is no better way to represent us than sending children to Copenhagen! I really like to write and discuss about topics on climate change. It is probably the most important issue for young people all over the world, because if we do nothing the difference between poor and rich will become bigger and bigger. Another reason is that the generation of people who are young now will be affected the most and will have to come up with solutions. So I want to approach as many people as possible and talk with them about climate change and how this will affect us."

No Waiting for Copenhagen - Children in Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines take action

Children in Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines are not waiting for the Copenhagen deal, they are already taking action to bring about commitment from their leaders and community members to address climate change
Through participatory video making, children developed videos to raised awareness of the present impact of climate change in their communities, and called for greater commitment by adults to come together and take action to meet the challenges they are already facing. The children's videos were screened in their communities and at municipal/provicial level - where local authorities were invited to take part in the screening sessions and challenged to listen to the children's ideas on how to address climate risks. In some cases, the children 's videos have already been successful in gaining the commitment from government bodies and other leaders to take action.
Watch the Our Climate, Our Future video compilation here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlzIoNdLEDc

350 Day of Action

On August 24th, Plan International called on our global leaders and all its supporters – sponsors, donors, Plan staff – to take action to cap our Greenhouse Gas emissions at 350ppm. Our children are watching and will be there at Copenhagen to see that your commitments are real.

See how children have marked 350 Day of Action around the world:

In Cebu, the Philippines

In Ghana:

In the Dominican Republic:

Children are key agents for Climate Adaptation and Mitigation

Children around the world are already facing the impact of climate change -- through the devastating floods in the Philippines, drought in Kenya and sea abrasion in Indonesia. But beyond climate victims, they are interested in taking part in decisions affecting their future, and they have a right to do so. Children are taking action to ensure their safety and that of their communities, offering practical solutions and calling for action from their leaders. These films were produced by children in the Philippines who are facing the realities of climate risks in their day-to-day lives.

Flood: Menace to Education

Barobo, The sinking Barangay

The Pock-marked Face of Barangay Caga-ut

What our leaders have to say about children and climate change

“[Climate change] is the moral challenge of our generation…succeeding generations depend on us. We cannot rob our children of their future.”
Ban Ki Moon - UN Secretary-General, Bali COP –December 2007


"Success [at Copenhagen] will require two major shifts in how we think - as policy makers, as campaigners, as consumers, as producers, as a society. The first is to think not in political or economic cycles; not just in terms of years or even decade-long programmes and initiatives. But to think in terms of epochs and eras - and how our stewardship will be judged not by tomorrow’s newspapers but by tomorrow’s children."
Speech by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. 29 June 2009

So let us begin. For if we are flexible and pragmatic; if we can resolve to work tirelessly in common effort, then we will achieve our common purpose: a world that is safer, cleaner, and healthier than the one we found; and a future that is worthy of our children.
Speech by US President Barak Obama to the United Nations Summit on climate change 22 September 2009

“It is a moral and economic imperative to guarantee a future for our children.”
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso


Words have been spoken, but what commitments will be made by Friday, December 18th in Copenhagen? We will be there to monitor and hold them to account!!!!

Young Climate Campaigner gets ready to attend COP15

UK Climate change champion Leon is 17 year olds from Grimsby, and a member of Plan UK’s Youth Advisory Panel. At global level, Leon participated with Plan at the 2008 Bonn UNFCCC Intercessional meeting and the 2009 EU Green Week event in Brussels. In the UK Leon has facilitated Climate Change awareness raising workshops with Peer Link, his local youth council, presented his views at the International Change Makers conference and local Rotary Clubs, and lobbied his local MPs in Grimsby to get free recycling in schools. Leon is now actively raising funds to join the Plan youth delegation at COP15, where several young people, sponsored by Plan, will be reporting as youth journalists.

Read Leon's road map to Copenhagen:


Day by day my understanding of Climate Change develops, generally this is due to my own research and my work with Plan UK and other concerned charities, however for many others it is a very different story. Many young people are not as motivated to do their own research and rely on other sources for information such as school so most students are unlikely to have any idea on the effects of Climate Change on children and young people across the globe. Since my research and my time with Plan UK I have learnt that Climate Change has drastic effects on young people and that something must be done to aid those who already struggle with day to day life. The effects of Climate Change are magnifying problems which already exist; countries which already suffer from economic problems will have even less hope. For example if conditions for growth and production are not sufficient to ensure the up-keep and stability of a family then the changing climate will have drastic effects on them and may compromise their future.

Children and Young People are the future; we are the ones that will have to clean up the mass of what has become a certain mess.

The effect this has on young people across the world is un-measurable. Children and Young people in developing countries already struggle with life. Climate Change is only increasing barriers to learning and personal development. However, it is important not to forget those that live in the more developed world; as young people are still indeed greatly affected. Climate Change is adding to the stress of life, we are becoming increasingly aware and concerned about Climate Change, we know that there is still room for improvement but we do not know how the international community is acting on this. We want and have the right to be able to grow up in a sustainable and safe world. Climate Change only makes this increasingly difficult.

Governments must start working together even more; they must also make room for us to voice our opinions and truly influence decisions that will affect our future. It is important to include young people in this as we often generate ideas that are missed by officials and professionals. It is crucial that our unique experiences and our unique thoughts are recognised and considered. Governments must build a positive relationship with their young people and to ensure successful development a safe and secure environment must be built so that young people feel comfortable and able to express their views, ideas and opinions. Different methods of communication should also be used as conferences for young people are not the way forward. Methods such as arts and crafts, music and dance, writing and sculpture are all excellent alternate methods, not to mention social networking, blogging, etc. Imaginative thinking will give the government ability to build an all inclusive programme so that views, ideas and inspiration can be gathered from all young people. We truly do care about our future, and we truly want to make a difference and change the path that is currently being laid.

It is time to empower young people to direct the power of government.
Times are changing.
The Climate is changing.
Let us children be the centre of that change.