International youth delegates met in London this week for a global student summit on climate change, writes Ashley Tucker, a 15-year-old student from South Africa.
Held in the Natural History Museum, the four-day summit, which ends today, aimed to educate teenagers about the threat of global warming and also create a global network of student representatives with the tools and ability to deal with climate change at a national and international level.
British Council's international climate change delegates and bloggers (l-r) Nfar Leonard Njamnshi, Arnette Vogelaar, Marloes Van Splunter, Jin Yunan and Ashley Tucker at the Natural History Museum's Student Summit on Climate Change 2006. Photograph: British Council/Frank Noon
Thanks to the British Council, 59 representatives from over 20 countries joined 140 students from the UK to share their experiences with climate change in their home countries.
The conference began with a speech by Sir David King, the government's chief scientific adviser, Jonathan Porritt, the chairman of the UK Sustainable Development Commission and James Buckland of the Cape Farewell, a project which brings artists, scientists and educators together to collectively address and raise awareness about climate change..
The summit has proved to be an incredible experience for the students taking part. Teenagers from as far as China, Kuwait, Russia and South Africa have been able to form a global network and discuss how to deal with climate change issues at a community level. Through this conference, we have learned that fighting the issue of climate change together is better than to stand alone.
Many of the students have written diaries describing their experiences of the summit. Here is a selection:
Start of Something New - Jin Yunan, 16, China
Living in my own world, I didn't understand that anything could happen, when you take a chance. I never believed in what I couldn't see, I never opened my eyes to all the possibilities. But now I know that something has changed, and I can feel that right here right now, it's the start of something new. Those words above describe how my feelings about climate change have altered since I arrived in London a few days ago.
In the past few days, 57 teenagers from 20 different countries all over the world have come to London for one reason: To take part in the 2006 student summit about climate change. Just the appearance of all these people is able to astonish anyone, because I believe the world has never seen so many young people around the world gather at the same place, at the same time, for the same reason.
During the summit, experts from all over the UK have taught us a lot about climate change. Sir David King kicked off the conference by giving us a brilliant speech about the evidence for climate change. Later on, Matthew Collins from the Hadley Centre and David Buckland analysed the issue using both scientific and artistic methods, giving us access to the different aspects of this global problem. All in all, day one was a great start to the whole summit, but day two really pushed the whole thing to a new level.
Jonathon Porritt gave us a fantastic speech, providing us with in-depth opinions on whether the world doing enough to address climate change issues. Others followed and delivered the whole package to us. So by the end of the day, all of the students came up with a conclusion: We are obviously not doing enough to address climate change issues and we should start considering climate change as a global issue, but approach it as if it was a local issue for all of our respective countries.
Finally, I just want to put all of the educational and scientific facts about climate change aside and just talk about this huge gathering of teenagers around the world. Thanks to this summit, I have met amazing people from all over the world who I have never thought I could have met, I have bridged cultural gaps which I have never thought I could have bridged. I now realise that teenagers all over the world are finally coming together to work in unity to do something about climate change.
I am gratified to see young people from different places an no matter what race they are, what language they speak or what cultural background they have, climate change is truly a problem for every single person living on this planet and we must work together to solve it.
Thanks to the British Council and Natural History Museum, Student Summit 2006: Climate Change has given young people around the world a platform to communicate with each other, to understand each other better and ultimately to work together to solve this global problem. The summit will eventually end at the end of this week, but its ending is also truly a start of something new.
Let's do something ourselves - Marloes Van Splunter, 16, and Arnette Vogelaar, 17, Netherlands
We think it's really important to make people more aware about climate change and to talk about this subject with people in so many countries. Maybe we can make a difference and find a solution to deal with the problems we're going to face globally.
When we were talking to people from other countries we began to realise that climate change is a higher political issue in Europe than in some other parts of the world. That's why we think we should not just wait for the government to do something, but to do something ourselves. Like a speaker at the summit said: "Think global, act local." So we hope that people will be more aware of climate change and to do something so that government all over the world will follow.
Making a difference - the extract of a speech from the east Midlands Climate Change champion, Carri Swann, Year 10, Nottingham
We, as young people, have a massive opportunity to make a real difference. In fact, we have the energy, the fresh and unbiased perspectives, the creativity and the clarity of thinking which older generations may lack. Teenagers are, with these advantages, in a better position to tackle climate change than many other groups of people; so why don't we? The answer is that many of us won't get involved if we can't see others doing it - if it isn't "cool" or the "done thing" - but we should dare to be different and to make a difference.
Our work will have an effect not only on climate change itself, but also on other people's perceptions. By making the issue interesting, less confusing and easier to get involved with, we can help people understand connections between climate change and their everyday lives. The collective effort of millions of young people can and will make an enormous impact. We just need to get the ball rolling ...
What do we do then? Nfor Leonard Njamnshi, 18, Cameroon
Climate change will pose a particular challenge to African countries. They may try to adopt and develop coping strategies but this is limited not only by poverty but also by ineffective governance, Aids, malaria, rising crime ... the list continues. So far, the level of awareness of most Africans about the risks and challenges we face with climate change is quite low. So what do we do then?
The Climate Change Adaptation in Africa programme aims to improve the capacity of African countries to adapt to climate change. They already have good mechanisms proposed, geared towards climate change adaptation, but most of this is still on paper and little has been put into action.
In Cameroon, the big issues that pose a threat to climate change are deforestation, such as equatorial rainforest wild bush-burning and poor farming techniques. The reason why most Cameroonians still do this is ignorance. They do not have enough information about climate change. Over the past two years, the northern parts of the Cameroon have been facing drought problems. This is due to the fact that the Sahara desert has advanced south into north Cameroon, an outcome of deforestation.
Much really needs to be done. For me, the main step in heading towards a global reduction in carbon emissions is informing the population of Africa. Let websites on climate change be made known to them, conferences and programmes be organised and broadcasting stations like the BBC to produce more programmes on the impact of climate change. Let's act now and give our children a better tomorrow.
