Zambian Children’s Climate Conference

Zambian Children’s Climate Conference

The Government of the Republic of Zambia and UNICEF are currently hosting the Zambian Children’s Climate Conference in Lusaka, Zambia. The national conference is the first of its kind in the world since the international Children’s Climate Forum was held last November in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The conference brings together nearly 200 children from all nine provinces of Zambia. The participants are being educated about climate change issues and are attending a series of adaptation and mitigation workshops in order to create work plans that they will begin implementing when they return to their home districts.

Youth Delegate Profile: Tendai Nyirenda

In the past few months many areas of Zambia experienced terrible floods that caused widespread devastation. Children in affected areas were not able to get to school and education was disrupted, and some children drowned in the floodwater.

16 year old Tendai Nyirenda hails from Livingstone, in the south of Zambia. She says that young Zambians need to work together to combat the effects of climate change.

Youth Delegate Profile: Stan Lengwe

As they are the most vulnerable, children will face the brunt of the impacts of climate change in the future. Many of the main killers of children, including malaria, pneumonia, diarrhea and malnutrition, are highly sensitive to climatic conditions and are expected to worsen as the world gets warmer.

Stan Lengwe is 16 years old, and is in Grade 11 at Kabulonga High School in Lusaka.  He says that garbage collection in his city leaves much to be desired, and that poor sanitation contributes to the health problems of young people.

Youth Delegate Profile: Wilfred Simbule

Children are also important in getting the message across about climate change. The knowledge and skills that young people require to address the rapidly changing environment are often different from what they learn in school. The Zambian Children’s Climate Conference teaches young people that they can do their part to address climate change in their communities, and that they need to work hard to capture the attention of their peers.

Wilfred Simbule is 15 years old and a student at Chingola High School in the Copperbelt region. He says that the mines in his area contaminate the drinking water, and that it is important to educate his peers about water safety and other local environmental issues.

Unicef Regional Director Mr. Elhadj Amadou Gueye Sy

Fourteen year old Luyando Katenda from Lusaka interviews Unicef Regional Director Mr. Elhadj Amadou Gueye Sy about Unicef’s commitment to climate change.

Listen to Unicef Regional Director Mr. Elhadj Amadou Gueye Sy’s full speech at the ZCCC here:

Unicef Zambia Country Representative Lotte Sylwander

Fourteen year old Luyando Katenda from Lusaka interviews Unicef Zambia Country Representative Lotte Sylwander about local climate change issues.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 26th, 2010 at 6:48 pm and is filed under Children's Health, Children's Rights, Climate Change, UNICEF, youth voices. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.