I hope it is ok to repost these impressive speeches by 2 children, one from Brazil, the other from Germany, who spoke for rainforest protection at the UN Biodiversity Conference in Bonn. How impressive it is to see young people stand up for what they believe in!

The original post is on Greenpeace’s website here.

Speech Veronica Rameck (Brazil)

Dear delegates and young people from all over the world,

My name is Veronica. I´m here with my friend Jucelino, who is sitting with us here as I speak. Jucelino lives in the Amazon and experiences all the problems the rainforest faces on a daily basis. I come from Rio de Janeiro, a region which was once covered by the Atlantic rainforest. (more…)

Healthy ecosystems and a continuous network of these ecosystems across large regions are essential for the ability of species to adapt to changing climates. Because we depend on many functions of ecosystems such as clean water and air, and carbon sequestration, nature protection is nowadays an essential part of adaptation to climate change. Biodiversity protection is therefore a very important aspect of any climate change policies.

“Bonn/Brussels May 29, 2008 – Today at the 9th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Bonn (Germany), special attention was paid to the Natura 2000 network, one of the greatest achievements of EU environmental policy. This network of more than 26,000 protected areas is Europe’s main contribution to the CBD’s efforts to halt global loss of biodiversity. (more…)