At the end of last term Grade Six were fortunately able to participatein the UN Conference on Climate Change in Nusa Dua:


We were invited by Ulrike Janssen of Climate Alliance of Germany to present a petition
on behalf of the children of Europe. Ms Janssen came to our class and explained how the children in countries from all over Europe had participated in activities that reduced carbon emmissions and had collected Green Footprints for their work. These footprints were represented on a huge poster and we were to present the poster to the secretary of teh UN Conference on Climate Change, a Dutch man called Iwo. We invited Jost from Grade Seven to join us as we have no Dutch students in Grade Six. We made posters to represent the green footprints to show to the people attending the ceremony.

It was exciting to go in the big bus and at Nusa Dua pass through the security, like being at an airport. There were people rushing everywhere holding brieifcases looking very busy.

We stood on stage to present the poster and we sang our songs to the people in the conference room. We also sang and perfomred outside and lots of photographers came over to take our pictures and interview us.

We were invited back to discuss environment issues with the Environment minister
of Austria, Mr Prohl, and the minister from Germany. That morning the officials at the gate almost didn;t let us in. We had our littl;e footprints on short bamboo sticks and the security guards thought that we were going to make some sort of protest. We thought they were rude and unfriendly, they tried to grab our sticks form us but luckily Miss Kayti gathered all the sticks and just said "NO". Mr Thomas turned up and then we were let in. It ws funny how the UN Poice could not help us, even though they had seen us the day before. The Indonesian Police acted in a very angry way that would be off putting for anyone.

The South Pacific Islanders

After a morning with the EU they then went to visit the delegation
from the South Pacific, places like Nauru, Kiribas and Tonga who are
loosing their islands to the rising of the warmer oceans. The South
Pacific Islanders put on a dance show and explained how they are
having to move from their homes and buy land in Papua New Guinea with
shells and pigs.

The next day a small group of us returned to participate with the
Youth Delegation in what was meant to be the final meeting of the
conference. However because negotiations had stalled and a crisis had
arisen the conference had been extended, and the atmosphere was
extremely tense. We were witness to the Japanese Environment minister
trying to flee the press and cameras. Wiro was almost lost in the
crush of cameras and boom mikes as he tried to speak to the minster.
He was unsuccessful that time but a little later he met the British
Environment minister, Mr Benn, and spoke with him. We all joined in
the Youth action demanding a breakthrough on the talks and listened to
Mr Benn give a speech. The need for a breakthrough was urgent, the
major powers were stalling the talks, but the people for whom global
warming is a real presence, people who are loosing their homes and
their livelihoods needed action and support from others and we lent
our voices to the call.

The final speech

Eventually we entered the huge conference room. Delegates sat in their
places with the names of their countries, simultaneous translating
machines and lap top computers. They listened to speeches from many
people representing the different interest groups of the world,
including Mayor Bloomberg of New York who was representing the
Municipal organisations of the world. Then it was our turn. We stepped
up onto the stage in front of the conference hall and stood still
while the Youth Delegation, including Bambou presented their speeches.
At the end the applause was deafening, people were standing up, men
were even crying. It was quite scary, but also exciting and unreal.
All sorts of peopple shook our hands and hugged us and thanked us.

You can see the speech from the Youth Delegation, including Bambou by
going to www.un.org/webcast/unfccc/2007/index.asp?go=09071214