Children gather in Malaysia for UN conference to promote forests

Children from nearly 70 countries are meeting in Malaysia this week to discuss ways to protect the world's forests, as part of a conference sponsored by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).

The Tunza International Children's Conference for the Environment, whose theme is “Save a Tree, Save our Lungs,” is bringing together some 200 children between the ages of 10 and 14 to voice their concerns about the current state of the world's environment.

“Two out of five species known to science face extinction, including one in eight birds, a quarter of all mammals and one-third of amphibian species,” Eric Falt, Director of UNEP's Division of Communications and Public Information, told children at the conference. “Many of these are forest species, yet forests around the world continue to be destroyed.”

The attendees are meeting environmental experts and presenting their own projects on promoting environmental protection, conservation and sustainability.

“As children, society assumes that we are young and we don't understand anything,” said 14-year old Hana Shazwin Azizan from Malaysia, a member of the Junior Board that did much of the conference planning. “This Conference is important because it is telling us that children do have a voice and that they want to hear it.”