Students joined forces with youngsters from around the world at an international conference on the environment recently, Shakira Warner of Francis Patton school and and Chris Garcelon of Warwick Academy report on the event:

"We attended the United Nations International Childrens Conference on the Environment on Victoria Island, British Columbia, Canada along with our chaperone, Lynn Thorne from the Bermuda Zoological Society (BZS) on May 21 to 25.

We were selected from the delegates to the BZS's 2002 Youth Conference on the Environment that was held in Bermuda earlier in the month.

We arrived on Victoria Island exhausted, but excited. It seemed so amazing to be part of the UN conference. We would spend the next four days sleeping in a dormitory, eating in a cafeteria and meeting children from across the Earth who want to grow as advocates for the environment.

We were able to visit the Buchart Gardens, Royal British Columbia Museum and the Butterfly Gardens and a local school that had established an environmental programme. We learnt how we could become more responsible and proactive in caring for our environment.

The conference objectives were; to voice concerns and increase understanding of the environment by sharing experiences and opinions; encourage new ideas and initiatives for improving the environment; create new relationships to break down ethic barriers and lead to long-lasting friendships; to think globally and act locally and to have fun.

We attended workshops and presentations, took field trips, and participated in discussions and friendship groups. The friendship groups allowed us to get to know children from other countries and to learn about their environmental concerns.

Each day had a different theme, including water and climate change, healthy communities and healthy children, and resource conservation.

We met children from all over the world, including New Zealand, Malaysia, Canada, Japan, Korea, Kenya and the United States. We learned that other countries have bigger environmental problems than we have in Bermuda, but we should still protect what we have on this little space.

In our workshops, we learned all kinds of things, such as how the ozone layer is being destroyed by smoke, toxins in the air and sprays. Using toxin-free herbicides and cutting back on sprays can help us protect the ozone layer.

At the end of the conference we developed environmental recommendations that will be presented at the United Nations Environmental Summit that will be held in South Africa."