Children speak up on climate change

Nurul, a 17-year-old girl from Jakarta, is sharing her views as Plan's ambassador at EU Green Week activities in Brussels, Belgium

Children are making their voices heard on the issue of climate change as part of the European Union’s official Green Week activities in Brussels, Belgium.

Nurul, a 17-year-old girl from Jakarta, is sharing her views as Plan Indonesia’s ambassador for promoting and campaigning on climate change.

Yesterday Nurul was a key speaker in the session "Can Media and Society Change Global Attitudes", and today she will take part in a Q&A session with policy makers and expert speakers.

The EU Green Week is the biggest annual conference on European environment policy, with more than 3500 participants expected from EU institutions, business and industry, non-governmental organisations, public authorities, the scientific community and academia.

This year’s conference is focusing on the question: How can we ensure action to address climate change best serves conservation of the ecosystems that support life on Earth?

“The future is in our hands. Every child has a voice to be heard! We will prove that we can help make a difference too!”

Nurul is passionate about climate change and the role of young people in making a difference.

“We have come to a time when differences must be pushed aside to win this fight against climate Change. There are about 6 billion other people living on the same earth as we do facing the same fight,” she says.

“The differences are, some notice and some don’t, some care and some do not care, some take actions and some stay still. It is our responsibility as the people who notice, care and take actions to make every single one of us notice, care and take actions all together.

“This is an extremely important fight, because the lost of it may cause us and our children’s future. But if we can build an efficient strategy and move together, I’m sure we can win this fight and restore nature’s harmony to our earth.

“The future is in our hands. Every child has a voice to be heard! We will prove that we can help make a difference too!”

Nurul is writing a daily blog about her experiences in Brussels.

In 2008, Nurul won a national competition in Indonesia run by Gadis (a national youth magazine), with her video Project earth.

In December 2008, Nurul took part in the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland, using remote access technology to share her message to delegates about the role of children in addressing the challenges of climate change. Watch Nurul's address to the United Nations Climate Change Conferenceon.