While negotiators, NGOs, and youth representatives were meeting in Poland, the Andean region’s most active youth environmentalists were holding their own summit in the Ecuadorean capital of Quito, as part of the TUNZA/GEO-Juvenil network. There, 40 youth leaders sat down together to review their accomplishments of the year, not least of which include: running reforestation campaigns in their communities, giving presentations to school children about climate change, and producing a banner 3km long with children’s handprints and signatures asking for a strong deal in Copenhagen. They then set out their plans for 2009. Goal #1? Get to Copenhagen to make sure the voice of their region’s youth, who are already being impacted by global warming, will be heard there.
For this year, we utilized the wonders of the internet to show them what was happening in Poland, and they sent their messages back. We hope to do all we can to help out this year to bring their voices to the table. Check out the video below, complete with English subtitles: