The UN has recently awarded the task of organising Tunza, the International Children’s Conference on the Environment (ICC) in 2008, to the Young Agenda 21 Foundation.
Since 2002, the Foundation has been working to get the conference held in the Stavanger region, and many supporters have participated in this process. So far, a total of NOK 5 million has been pledged in support of the conference from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of the Environment, the Rogaland County Authority, Stavanger and Sandnes municipalities, Lyse Energi and Statoil. Several other public and private sector organisations have also collaborated in this effort.
There has been intense discussion with the UN’s Environment Programme UNEP, most recently during the ONS Conference in Stavanger in August 2004 when a meeting was held with Klaus Töpfer, the programme's director. Since 1995, UNEP has organised similar conferences in different locations around the world. The basic criterion is Agenda 21, the concluding document of the UN summit conference on Environment and Development in Rio in 1992, which asserted that children and young people were to be involved in the development of the future global environment.
The Young Agenda 21 Foundation has been established with the same aim - to bring children's involvement in environmental issues to the fore, and to provide children with opportunities to exchange ideas, to inspire each other to participate in new activities and, not least, to make new friends across national frontiers and cultures. The Foundation was established in the year 2000 by the Rogaland County Authority, the municipalities of Stavanger, Sandnes, Sola and Gjesdal, together with Lyse Energi, Statoil, IVAR1 and the ENS (Environment Northern Seas) Foundation following two environmental conferences for children in 1997 and 1999 that were linked to ENS conferences in Stavanger.
Children from a hundred countries
The organisers estimate that a thousand children from a hundred countries from all over the world will attend the conference during the week before the midsummer St. Hans festival in 2008. The greater part of the conference will be held on the Stavanger University campus, but the natural environment of the region will also provide an arena for new experiences and learning. Children are environmental ambassadors who bring with them the message of the global environment, combining new ideas and experiences from their own countries.
The major themes of the conference will be the diversity of children's involvement, friendships and creativity. The main ingredients will be project exhibitions, workshops, excursions, culture and play. The children's own ideas and activities will be combined with the best environmental solutions developed by firms and organisations, and will inspire increased involvement in environmental issues. Lasting friendships will be made across national frontiers. Issues such as global justice, solidarity and the campaign to eradicate poverty will be central issues. Children will also challenge today's leaders to take more responsibility for future environmental issues and development.
The prelude in May this year
Young Agenda 2005 are already during May this year bringing together more that 500 children from over 30 countries around the world to a conference whose content and aims will be similar to the themes of the UN Conference in 2008. There is great interest in this year's event, and the organisers anticipate that many of the contacts established now will be important with the 2008 International Conference in mind.
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For further information contact: Gabriele Brennhaugen, General Manager, Young Agenda 21, tel.+47 5190 5421, e-mail ua21@online.no, Anne-Kari Aas Eielsen, Steering Committee Chairman, tel. +47 5190 8249/9348 8249, e-mail anne-kari.aas.eielsen@lyse.no, or Elisabeth Sjo Jespersen, ICC 2008 Working Group Leader, tel. +47 9188 1682, e-mail gronnby@online.no
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Translator's note:
1. IVAR - Inter-Municipal Water