Two participants of the J8 Summit 2009 made it to the Children’s Climate Forum (CCF) in Copenhagen, Denmark at the end of November 2009. Yulia Khulayeva from Kalmykia, Russia and Pulkit Agrawal from Florida, United States were both chosen as part of the teams that represented their respective countries at this important event. The Forum was organized by UNICEF and the Copenhagen City Administration ahead of the UN 15th Conference on Climate Change (COP15). Yulia and Pulkit were not the only two J8 alumni at the summit. Four other J8 alumni from various years – Lorenzo Casullo, Harry Brooks, Julien Tremblay and Fernanda Winter – were selected to be the facilitators at the Forum for their excellent facilitation work at the last J8 Summit.

Pulkit talks about the Summit: “Most of the work took place at the very impressive Copenhagen City Hall. As in the J8 Summit, we wrote a Declaration to present to the leaders and established a Climate Ambassadors Program which focuses on follow-up activities in our home countries. However, the CCF incorporated more hands-on and skills-training sessions where participants could create their own inventions: such as a mini-drip irrigation system and a 1.6 volt battery which powered a radio and a battery-operated car. 

At the Forum, each country delegation was paired with a host Danish school. We got to visit these schools, meet with the students, do some cultural exchange activities, and attend different workshops related to climate change.”   

While Pulkit was developing follow-up plans for the Climate Ambassadors Program, Yuliya worked hard on writing the Declaration. Yulia talks about the last day of CCF: “It was the busiest day at the Forum. About 800 people attended the closing ceremony, including Connie Hedegaard, the COP15 President, and a well-known Danish politician. Two kids (a boy and a girl) were selected through voting to represent each continent. That's how I became the girl representing Asia. I was also the one who handed the Declaration, signed by all 164 participants, to the COP15 President and spoke about our work and expectations, and thanked her for organizing such a great event. 

“The closing ceremony was very inspiring and ended with a popular Danish band, ABC, performing a song about climate “It’s my World” together with all the participants. That was it: young representatives of the world completed their work and handed the metaphorical Olympic Flame to adult politicians and experts”. 

Yuliya adds: “I truly hope that the energy of the forum somehow gets conveyed to our country leaders and the words turn into deeds. We have launched this process in a very youthful, successful, and truly “green” way”.