New York:
Thirteen-year-old Indian girl Yugratna Srivastava has been invited by the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, to address the UN summit on climate change.
She's only 13, but she has a message for the US President Barack Obama, China's President Hu Jintao and India's Foreign Minister S M Krishna.
"Politicians, please listen to our voices. The future needs strong vision and leadership. We the children and youth are going to inherit the world so it's very necessary that you include all our voices in your decisions and then you act. Each country could solve climate change. It's not about developed countries or developing countries, it is something that concerns the whole earth," said Yugratna.
In 2008, Yugratna, who is a member of an NGO in Lucknow that works to rebuild trees, participated in a Youth conference in Norway organized by the United Nations Environment Programmed (UNEP) and became a member of the Junior Board.
Her environmental activism brought her to the attention of UNEP. On Tuesday, when Yugratna takes the floor before world leaders in the General Assembly hall she will be representing children across the globe appealing to world leaders to sign a definitive climate change agreement at the Copenhagen conference in December.
"UNGA is a big thing. I am pretty nervous. But I am also confident because people have encouraged me so much. The media, my school friends, the whole country. They have all encouraged me so much," said the young enthusiast.
Though she sounds much older than she looks. Deep down Yugantra is just a 13 -year old, on top of the world - a world she hopes to change for the better.
She's only 13, but she has a message for the US President Barack Obama, China's President Hu Jintao and India's Foreign Minister S M Krishna.
"Politicians, please listen to our voices. The future needs strong vision and leadership. We the children and youth are going to inherit the world so it's very necessary that you include all our voices in your decisions and then you act. Each country could solve climate change. It's not about developed countries or developing countries, it is something that concerns the whole earth," said Yugratna.
In 2008, Yugratna, who is a member of an NGO in Lucknow that works to rebuild trees, participated in a Youth conference in Norway organized by the United Nations Environment Programmed (UNEP) and became a member of the Junior Board.
Her environmental activism brought her to the attention of UNEP. On Tuesday, when Yugratna takes the floor before world leaders in the General Assembly hall she will be representing children across the globe appealing to world leaders to sign a definitive climate change agreement at the Copenhagen conference in December.
"UNGA is a big thing. I am pretty nervous. But I am also confident because people have encouraged me so much. The media, my school friends, the whole country. They have all encouraged me so much," said the young enthusiast.
Though she sounds much older than she looks. Deep down Yugantra is just a 13 -year old, on top of the world - a world she hopes to change for the better.
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