Mangalore: Two students make it to UNEP event

The Hindu

Mangalore, 13 October 2011: Two schoolchildren from Mangalore attended the Tunza International Children and Youth Conference on Environment, organised by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in cooperation with the Government of Indonesia from September 27 to October 1.

 

Albert Antony, a class 8 student of Sharada Vidyalaya and Alwyn Francis Antony, a student of class 4 from the same school (and Albert’s younger brother) attended the conference.

 

The theme of the conference was “Reshaping our future through a green economy and sustainable development “Rio+20”. The conference reviewed the contribution of children to the International Year of Forests and how they could adopt environment-friendly lifestyles.

 

At the conference, the participating students went on a field trip to a forest and an observatory. They attended workshops on environment conservation. “We were told how we could reduce, recycle, and reuse. They taught us to use paper and jute bags instead of plastic,” said Albert.

 

He saw students from Patna, Bihar, making floor tiles from discarded tiles and broken bricks. “Some Indian students from Qatar showed how to conserve water from air-conditioners. The water can be reused for plants,” he said.

 

At the closing ceremony, he presented a dance, choreographed by him. It was set to the music of Jai Ho and Vande Mataram. At the end of the song, all the members of the Indian team joined in. Among the 25 Indian students participating were four from South India, one each from Visakhapatnam and Madurai, and two from Mangalore, he said. “I liked the workshops, they were fun, especially the action songs in English, French, and Spanish,” he said.

 

Albert said he learnt about the competition through Internet where he read about an organisation called Tarumitra (Friends of Trees, a students’ movement that started in Patna to protect and promote a healthy environment), which selected him and his brother five months before the conference.

 

Alwyn was unable to participate as he was not well when he reached.