Children’s Climate Forum

Children’s Climate Forum

Who: 160 children from 44 developing and industrialized countries around the world.

When: November 28 – December 4, 2009.

Where: Copenhagen City Hall, Copenhagen.

What: The official Children’s Climate Forum is organized by UNICEF and the City of Copenhagen. It takes place in the week leading up to the intergovernmental negotiations on climate change (COP15) in December in Copenhagen. All the children’s delegations have prepared for the forum by taking part in local-level fact-gathering, workshops and/or negotiations with regards to climate change. During the forum, the child delegates will engage in skill-building sessions, a negotiating session and draft a declaration that will be presented to the President of the COP15 at the Forum closing session. Forum delegates will learn and discuss how they can engage as young “climate ambassadors” at local and national levels when they return to their respective countries. A small group of the delegates will also participate in the first week of COP15 to engage with negotiators.

Why:
The purpose of the Children’s Climate Forum is to give children from both developing and industrialized countries a voice in the global climate change debate and a chance to influence the important agreement to be decided at COP15. It’s unique that children from both industrialized and “at-risk” countries meet face-to-face to discuss impact of climate change on children, and how children can take part in both local and global efforts to adapt to, and fight climate change.

Media opportunities:
In order to respect children’s right to express themselves with confidence, the children’s sessions at the forum will be closed to media. There will, however, be some opportunities for media to interact with the children during the week. Highlights that are open to the media include:

Nov. 28: Opening session at 13:00 (Geneva time). Official opening event including a visual happening, followed by “Climate Speed Dating”: Children from 44 countries have prepared their own climate change stalls, to be visited by delegations from other countries, to promote interaction and knowledge sharing between delegations. Students from Copenhagen host schools will participate.

Before and after the forum, media can report on individual delegations in their home countries. The delegates have already been chosen, and they are preparing for the Forum. They are researching climate change and its consequences in their home countries, and discussing climate solutions with young people from the whole world at www.uniteforclimate.org

During the forum, communication materials including photos, video, and stories, will be made available to UNICEF national committees and field offices through Panorama on the UNICEF intranet.

Youth journalists from the Copenhagen-based junior college Oerestad Gymnasium will report from the forum on a daily basis on www.uniteforclimate.org, featuring web articles, video, photos, and two daily live webcasts. Language: English.

Children from the following countries will participate:
Andorra, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greenland, Haiti, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Luxembourg, Malawi, Maldives, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Senegal, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, United Kingdom, USA, Vietnam and Zambia.

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