Children Gather In Malaysia For UN Conference
Children Gather In Malaysia For UN Conference To Promote Forests
Children from nearly 70 countries are meeting
in Malaysia this week to discuss ways to protect the world's
forests, as part of a conference sponsored by the United
Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).
The Tunza
International Children's Conference for the Environment,
whose theme is “Save a Tree, Save our Lungs,” is
bringing together some 200 children between the ages of 10
and 14 to voice their concerns about the current state of
the world's environment.
“Two out of five species
known to science face extinction, including one in eight
birds, a quarter of all mammals and one-third of amphibian
species,” Eric Falt, Director of UNEP's Division of
Communications and Public Information, told children at the
conference. “Many of these are forest species, yet forests
around the world continue to be destroyed.
The
attendees are meeting environmental experts and presenting
their own projects on promoting environmental protection,
conservation and sustainability.
“As children,
society assumes that we are young and we don't understand
anything,” said 14-year old Hana Shazwin Azizan from
Malaysia, a member of the Junior Board that did much of the
conference planning. “This Conference is important because
it is telling us that children do have a voice and that they
want to hear it.”
Ends