Hamburg, 26 July -
About one hundred young people with Greenpeace are today taking to the streets for ten hours of activities in ten cities in Germany in order to bring attention to their demands on the World Summit about to take place in Johannesburg. Dressed as politicians, young people in Bremen, Berlin, Chemnitz and Freiburg are taking naps in deck-chairs and lazily kicking around a globe to demonstrate ten lost years. In the city centres in Neubrandenburg and Cologne activists in penguin suits are sitting in paddling pools and informing passers-by how they are losing their habitat on account of the change in the climate. A tiger is roaming the pedestrian precinct in Krefeld in search of its destroyed home in the ancient forest. What there is to see differs, but the message is the same: Ten lost years - ten broken promises.
Annelie Kaufmann, 18, says in Bremen, "For ten years now governments have let things slide and allowed business interests to decide the fate of the world. We children and young people may only be 40 per cent of the world's population but we are 100 per cent of its future. Governments must at long last take on their responsibilities and act in Johannesburg." Passers-by can sign a petition by the young environmentalists to the German Chancellor. They can also write down what they would like to see at the summit in Johannesburg and have themselves photographed beside their statements. The resultant photo album will likewise be handed over to the Chancellor.
Greenpeace's young activists will demonstrate in ten examples that the activities planned to protect the environment at the first Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 have failed, for example in protecting the climate and ancient forests. Emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide have risen by nine per cent since 1992 - despite a world climate convention having been agreed. For ancient forests too - the treasure chamber of biodiversity and home to thousands of people - the situation has worsened dramatically in the last ten years. Each year 15 million hectares of ancient forest - an area almost half the size of Germany - are lost irrevocably.
The protest actions in ten cities are the first in a series of activities in which the young people will be calling on not only the German government but also the biggest countries blocking the way to environmental protection - the USA, Canada and Australia - to take action. "We young people want to live in a fair, peaceful and healthy world. The natural bases of life such as water, the climate and forests, must be protected," demands Justus Rollin, aged 16, in Neubrandenburg. The young people expect the second UN world summit in Johannesburg (from 26 August to 4 September) to set specific goals, time frames and funds for solving global ecological and social problems.
Editors please note
Please direct enquiries to Stephanie Weigel, coordinator of Greenpeace's youth teams, tel.
+49 (0)171 8780814, or Björn Jettka, press officer, tel. +49 (0) 40 30618341 or +49 (0)171 8780778. You can obtain photos of the actions by calling +49 (0)40 30618 376.
