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A view from the Summit
Leaders of more than 150 countries and 60,000 delegates attended the 'United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development' in Johannesburg, South Africa at the end of August 2002. The Summit came ten years after the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, aiming to strengthen the commitment towards a more sustainable world in the 21st century. Thanks to the Young Envisionaries Award Scholarships Programme young people were given a chance to go to Johannesburg to get involved themselves. Here is a report from one of the participants, Talia Beni-Randall, a sixth former from Hampstead comprehensive in London:

"The Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) has been deemed a failure by the British press. The politicians have been accused of apathy and of not taking effective measures that will improve the state of the planet and global living standards. Yes, this is true but the fact is that it is far easier to blame the politicians for the problems of the world and still not take personal responsibility for the state of the planet.

We seem to forget that yes, the politicians may be hypocrites, but if we continue to live in such excess and consume far more than we need, then we are just as bad as they are. We all know that governments and businesses should be held accountable for their actions and should take positive steps towards sustainable development, but how long are we going to wait for them to do that? So far they have shown that the only thing they are committed to is maximising their own profits no matter what damage they do to the people and planet.

We are the people who will inherit the earth and all its problems, which is why we cannot afford to wait for governments to take real leadership. I belong to a group of committed young people from all over the world who have elected to take responsibility and pledge to dedicate a great deal of time and effort towards achieving sustainable lifestyles by attending the Children's Earth Summit, 2002.

The Children's Earth Summit was set up by several environmental organisations. Its aim is to give ordinary children from all over the world the chance to discuss issues that are important to us, and actually decide on sustainable solutions to problems such as pollution and poverty. We set to work by writing a declaration on the five fundamental issues that we feel are essential in establishing a sustainable future: basic rights, education, health, pollution and poverty. We included our commitments to sustainable development in our declaration and what we feel is necessary for governments, corporations and NGOs to do if we are to have a sustainable planet.

Jean Chretien, the Canadian Prime Minister, listens to Talia presenting the declaration at the summit.

We succeeded in presenting our declaration to the Prime Minister of Canada, the First Minister of Scotland and to a group of 15,000 Sowetan school children in Orlando Stadium. The event was broadcast live on South African television, and we handed over a copy to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, who attended the closing ceremony of the Children's Earth Summit. We also sent a letter to 700 delegations and 18 world leaders at the WSSD Summit stressing the urgency of establishing sustainable solutions, not only for their sake, but for ours too.

One of the UK delegates at the Children's Earth Summit, Rowenna Davis, was invited to meet the head of the UK delegation. They discussed issues such as globalisation and renewable energy, and Rowenna emphasised our dissatisfaction with so many government policies. Rowenna then handed over a letter on our behalf that not only expressed our frustration at the lack of commitment from our government but also offered hope in that we, the children are taking responsibility and not only want to, but need to work with governments and businesses in order to make sustainable options mainstream and accessible to everybody.

In a world where 30% of the population is under the age of 15 it is essential that we, the children of the world, empower ourselves and accept that we have a huge responsibility towards each other and towards our Earth. We, the children must create a new way of thinking, one that unites people and planet, economy and ecology, and the rich and the poor. There is no time to lose".

Talia Beni-Randall
Hampstead Comprehensive

Visit www.messengers.org.uk , set up by 17 year old Rowenna Davis. Find out about her poster campaign around London and at the Earth Summit to draw attention to the issues.
Also, visit http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2002/disposable_planet/ for a six-part website on sustainable development, looking at population, food, cities, waste, tourism and energy. The site also includes a quiz for you to measure your own impact on the planet's resources.
For more in-depth information on the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, visit www.johannesburgsummit.org

Join Global Gang!

This edu-entertainment website for 8-12 year olds, will be back on-line from 1st November 2002. www.globalgang.org.uk offers children from around the world the chance to link up and find out what they have in common. On the re-launched site there will be new features for both pupils and teachers. Homework Help is an online library of school-friendly topics like water or a village in India using real-life stories, fun facts, photos and puzzles. www.globalgang.org.uk also has a section for teachers called 'Planet Teacher'.

A new linking programme means you can log on to Global Gang and send messages to other children from all over the world through the website's message boards. From Dublin to Delhi, Petersfield to Pakistan, you can share news, jokes and experiences. Children from countries like Brazil, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo are collecting stories and video clips, writing stories and letters for the website.

With the help of celebrities like boy band, Blue, Blue Peter's Simon Thomas and the Newsround team, the website aims to make the world a smaller place, and show that when it comes to poverty there is no 'us and them'; we're all part of one big Global Gang …

Visit www.globalgang.org.uk from November 1st.

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