Monday At The Ccf

Climate young to young »How will the world be – will we still be here.« That was one of the questions asked at the Children’s Climate Workshop at Copenhagen City Hall yesterday.

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 Foto: Ricardo Pires

■ »We want to take the environment seriously,« Oskar Munk Kronik says, when the Childrens Climate Forum began at Copenhagen City Hall. The 14-year old student is from one of Copenhagens 22 host schools for the meeting, where 164 delegates from 44 countries are gathered. The Childrens Climate Forum lasts until 4th of December, and the purpose is to compose a Children’s declaration, which is presented by Connie Hedegaard before the adult’s conference (COP15) ■ There was a formal visit at the opening ceremony at Copenhagen City Hall, where ballerinas from The Royal Ballet Academy performed for the climate. And Countess Alexandra was one of the speakers, as projector for UNICEF. »It is my world, it is your world, but most important it is our world,« Alexandra announced in her speech, which was received with great enthusiasm from the delegates. ■ Laughter and happy voices fill the air at Copenhagen City Hall, and the sound of many different native languages is heard everywhere. Different stands have been put up, which represent the 44 countries participating in the Children’s Climate Forum. The stands are made by the children themselves, and can be seen till Friday from 8am – 5pm.

Youth journalists covering the Children’s Climate Forum In the week prior to the COP15, 164 teenagers from 44 countries are participating in their own climate forum in Copenhagen City Hall, hoping to influence the decisions of the world leaders. But adults are prohibited. The Danish Newspaper Urban has made an alliance with youth journalists from Oerestad Gymnasium to join the fight in giving the children a voice in the international climate debate. This wallpaper has been made possible through the partnerships of Urban, the City of Copenhagen, UNICEF Denmark and Oerestad Gymnasium.

The world is on the line 44 countries are gathered in Copenhagen to take part in workshops about adaption. The interesting thing is when we speak about climate changes the solution is adaption and not mitigation. By Julia Kuhn - Philip Krebs - Sophie Himmelstrup - Simone Lucas and Terese Michelsen

■ »How will the world be – will we still be here? «. That is the first question which strikes 16 years old Zakaria Merodi from Morocco, who is sitting at one of the workshops at Copenhagen City Hall. You can see the desperation in his eyes when he mentions the climate catastrophes in his country. Zakaria Merodi lives in the Central Agadre and he is aware of the climate changes. In 1960 an earthquake took place in Agadre and the whole city was destroyed.

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children have to drop out of school because they have to search for food because of the drought. fabian rogers wandera, kenya

Adaption is a possibility when it comes to climate catastrophes Agadre is an example to adaption. Because of the earth quake back in 1960 they are now reconstructing the houses so they are protected against future catastrophes. Make a change

Zakaria Merodi is concerned about the former climate disasters and he is afraid he might experience the same earthquake

that hit 49 years ago. Zakarai Merodi is an ambassador of Morocco who is participating in the Children’s Climate Forum, he is here to make a change. »It is important to participate and we hope to be taken seriously,« he says. Zakaria Merodi sees things in another perspective than one of the other ambassadors, Fabian Rogers Wandera from Kenya. »Children have to drop out of school because they have to search for food because of the drought,« Fabian says. This is one of the consequences of the climate changes and the problems are different worldwide. In India the problem is no clean water, and here the solution has also been adaption. They have built new water facilities to improve the possibilities for clean water. It is a fact that there are many different types of problems but it is impossible to stop the climate changes though it is possible to adapt to the surroundings.

WHY HAVE YOU CHOSEN TO ATTEND THE CHILDREN’S CLIMATE FORUM?

Sabrina Chaoui, 16 years old, Canada

Chen Xizhao, 16 years old, Kina

■ »I think that climate change is a huge issue, and I believe that it’s important to take action. By attending the Children’s Climate Forum, I feel like I take action. Because I bring my knowledge and share it with all the delegates from the other countries, while I learn so much from them. Then I go home with so much new knowledge, which I can share at home.«

■ »When I saw the movie ’The Day After Tomorrow’ I realized that the climate changes is a global problem. I see it as my duty to help prevent this from happening. I hope and I wish that we could stop debating all the time. The leaders should act united and as human beings instead of separated world leaders. It is every human beings responsibility to help prevent the climate changes. «

Kasaka Chisambwe Katengo, 15 years old, Zambia

■ »I believe that our environment is very important. It is important that the children participate in the climate debate, because we are supposed to take responsibility for this planet in not too many years. It will be easier to decide what to do about the environment when we grow up, if we start to take action now.«