A five-member Gambian youth and children delegate recently returned from Daejeon, in the Republic of South Korea, having participated in UNEP TUNZA International Children and Youth conference on the environment held from the 17th to 23rd of August 2009.

The delegates from The Gambia - Ebrima Dem, Fatoumatta Bah and Mariama Dumbuya of Global Unification The Gambia; Mustapha Jallow and Ibrahim Ceesay, representing the Children for Children Organization respectively, were part of over 700 participants from 102 countries worldwide who took part in this conference.

The conference, which ran on the theme: 'Climate Change: Our challenge', had engaged political and business leaders, senior UN dignitaries, children and the youth, in a discussion on the scenarios that the global community will be faced with in the event of a deal or no deal at the climate change negotiations (Cop-15 world leaders' Summit) in Copenhagen, Denmark, to be held in December 2009. The children and youths met to share information and exchanged ideas on climate change related issues and had key presentations, discussions, workshops and fieldtrips to environmental sites and venues to enhance learning.

The opportunity provided the children and youth as well as policy makers and UN agencies to closely engage themselves in the global effort to realise environmental sustainability. They shared ideas and experience on how to find efficient ways of adapting and tackling climate change and its effect on the planet. At the conference, young people took a proactive role by making their voices heard in the fight against the threats of climate change and demonstrated a sense of commitment in environmental sustainability.

At the end of the conference, the participants prepared a youth statement entitled: 'Listen to our voice', at the Global Town Hall, for political leaders and the commitments from children and the youth on the actions they will undertake after the conference with regard to the 'Seal the Deal' rallies.