Water and Wildlife Among Top Issues at Children's World Eco-Summit
An estimated 1,000 people - children aged between 10 and 14 years old together with their parents and chaperones - from about 100 countries, are expected to take part.
The Summit, organized by UNEP and hosted by JOC, will focus on Energy, Recycling, Water, Forests and Biodiversity.
Projects by children that relate to the themes will be presented and discussed during the plenary alongside workshops and field trips.
The event, taking place between 26 and 29 July, will also give the children a chance to take part in environmental activities at Expo 2005 and visit environmental exhibits.
Klaus Toepfer, UNEP's Executive Director, said: "We are delighted to be holding this pioneering event and to have it hosted in Japan in conjunction with Expo 2005".
"Children are the future and that future must be a sustainable one.
Otherwise, we shall fail as adults in our responsibility to hand over a world fit for these children to live in. Children can play a pivotal role in reminding us of our responsibilities and seeing beyond the day to day, sometimes petty, distractions that can put us off course," he said.
"We need partnerships to deliver a healthier, fairer and more environmentally-friendly world. Among those partnerships must be one between adults and children and between children in their own countries and between children in countries across the globe," said Mr Toepfer.
The chairperson of JOC, Mr. Fumio Kawaguchi, President of CHUBU Electric Power Co., Inc., added: "The theme of Expo 2005 is 'Nature's Wisdom'.
Usually, one associates the notion of 'wisdom' with old age and experience, but I think all of us can accept that there is such a thing as the wisdom of childhood, as well. A child has a clearer, simpler view of the world, a view which has not yet been tainted by the realism, some would say cynicism, of adulthood.
These two different aspects of wisdom are embodied in the mascots we chose to represent Expo 2005: Morizo, the Forest Grandfather and Kiccoro, the Forst Child. I look forward to welcoming many 'Forest Children' from around the globe to Aichi this summer!"
The Children's World Summit is a follow-up to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Summit will help to increase children's understanding of environmental issues by letting them share experiences and opinions, give them an opportunity to collectively voice their concerns for the environment and inspire them to initiate and implement community environmental projects.
A Junior Board consisting of seven representatives from the UNEP regions (North America, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, West Asia, and Asia and the Pacific), as well as four children from Japan, helped prepare the 2005 Children's World Summit.
The Junior Board worked with JOC and UNEP to develop an agenda and ensure that the facilities, meals and programme of the Summit reflect the needs of the participating children.
The JOC consists of Ministry of the Environment, Aichi Prefectural Government, Toyohashi City, Toyota City, the Japan Association for the 2005 World Exposition and six companies (tbc) including CHUBU Electric Power Co., Inc..
웹사이트: http://www.unep.org.
연락처
Eric Falt, Spokesman/Director UNEP Division of Communications and Public Information, on Tel: 254 20 623292
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2010년 6월 10일 10:36