Thursday At The Ccf

Climate youth 2 youth

»I have never seen polar bears or penguins either, so I’m glad to visit the Zoo. I’d love to see everything before it’s too late,« Dina Pustita Sari from Indonesia says.  Foto: Nikolai Linares

re a t a h w ... doing t he y

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■ When delegates from the Childrens Climate Forum visited Kløvermarken in Copenhagen, they learned about environmentally friendly housing. Among the delegates was 17 year old Kristy from Hong Kong, who told about living in a flat on the 80th floor, in a city without bicycles. »If you ride a bike in Hong Kong, people will probably laugh at you,« says Kristy States. ■ Uniteforclimate.org is a web portal, which covers the Children’s Climate Forum. On this site one can also view the web TV broadcasts covering the climate forum produced by students from Ørestad Gymnasium. Arturo Romboli from Unicef characterises as a climate Facebook. ■ »It’s nice and easy. Yesterday we went on until midnight and we’ve agreed on the demands, we want to communicate to the leaders of the world. We have our points and principals ready, it’s just not a text yet,« says Martin Dover, a danish participant in Children’s Climate Forum, where the delegates are now preparing the decleration which Connie Hedegaard (photo) will bring on to next weeks COP15.

Why are the monkeys in cages?

Dina Pustita Sari from Indonesia is visiting Europe for the very first time. Yesterday, she went to Copenhagen Zoo, where she passed several exotic animals. By Johanne Bille Clara Lambert og Olivia Hviid

■ »It’s so weird seeing the monkeys locked up like that,« Dina Pustita Sari bursts out as she walks by the chimpanzees in Copenhagen Zoo. Back home in Indonesia, she lives in the rainforest, where monkeys live in freedom. »It’s all very new for me, I am almost paralyzed every time I turn. But the most shocking thing for me this far would definitely be the cold weather. This is the first time I see ice, but I love it already. Hopefully, I will also get to see snow be-

fore it’s too late,« Dina says. It’s not only the low temperature, polar bears, and penguins that fascinate Dina. She is also startled by the Danish culture. »Where I come from, you learn to respect the grown-ups. You don’t answer back, and actually you don’t really speak your mind at all. So it’s a little strange for me to come to this meeting where it’s even expected for me to have an opinion on everything,« Dina says. Climate change at close range

Her life in the rainforest was a big motivating factor when she decided to spend so much time in favour of the environment. »Since I live in the rainforest, I experience the climate changes at a close range. I watch, as species become extinct. In our community, we care for the nature, because we’re so dependant on it. That’s the message I want to deliver.«

And now, she has the opportunity as one of Indonesia’s three climate ambassadors. »We discuss the climate a lot in the hotel. We all experience global warming in different ways,« Dina says. She turns to snap a picture of the frozen puddle and continues: »But in the end, it’s all goes back to one huge problem, that we must solve together.«

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since i live in the reainforest, I experience the climate changes at close range. Dina Pustita Sari

How do you and your family protect yourselves against the climate changes?

youth journalists cover children’s climate forum In the week prior to the COP15, 164 teenagers from 44 countries are participating in their own climate forum at 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. Sanne Nyland Christensen, [email protected]

Blessing Onyinyechi Walter 16 år, Nigeria

Josephine Baaro 16 år, Kiribati

Rose-Coralie Norris 13 år, Haiti

»We plants trees, to reduce the CO2 in the atmosphere. At the same time we inform our neighbours and others in our area about global warming and its consequences. In the future I would like to start a fond, to inform others across Nigeria on the issue. However, to start the fond, we need financial support from the Government of Nigeria.«

»The sea level rise is the only climate impact we experience, therefore we build seawalls. We have also tried to plant mangroves on the costal areas. The seawalls are not very effective, so we keep on building them higher, but we can only build them to a certain point. When that point is reached, the government proposes that we immigrate to other countries, but we do not want to.«

»6 months ago, I did not care about the climate, because I didn’t know anything about it. Then I was at a UNICEF-camp, where we were informed about how bad it is, and now I’m in a communication-group, where we inform other children about what they can do to stop the climate-changes.«