Plain talking children refresh wordy Earth Summit
Date: 03-Sep-02
Country: SOUTH AFRICA
"Too many adults are too interested in money and wealth to take notice of serious problems that affect our future," said Justin Friesen, an 11-year-old Canadian boy.
"Think about your children, your nieces, nephews, and maybe even grandchildren. What kind of a world do you want for them?" he told scores of heads of state and government.
His brief remarks to leaders debating the fate of the planet was a breath of fresh air at an event rich in language such as "capacity-building for sustainable development", "appropriate frameworks" and "multilateral environmental agreements".
In the strange, twilight world of the summit, peopled by many U.N. bureaucrats, countries are not poor. They are resource-constrained. Countries don't lend money. They make financial resources available on an ongoing basis.
Baffled journalists trying to cover key projects to make poor countries rich have struggled to decipher news offered by senior U.N. officials shrouded in impenetrable language.
So they were relieved to hear from the children.
Analiz Vergara, a 14-year-old girl from Ecuador, called on leaders to ratify the Kyoto protocol, provide clean water and free health care for all children.
"Spend more money on helping the poor people and children around the world rather than attending too many meetings.
"Remember we cannot buy another planet and our lives and those of future generations depend on it. We need more than your appluase, your comments of well done, or good speech. We need action," Vergara said.
