United Nations Radio

Crowd outside the Bella Centre

 Chaos, confusion and miscommunication at the Climate Change conference in Copenhagen have put the delegates on edge. But UN Radio's correspondent there, Liling Huang, was also affected when she attempted to get access to the conference site.

LILING: After a very long walk, a whole subway stop, we finally reached Bella Center but just outside Bella Center, about 30 minutes to the venue, we couldn't get in, and the crowd is huge and there are ministers and high ranking diplomats standing around but nobody can get in....

POLICE/SECURITY: Yes, I am sorry, I have ministers here, I have high ranking diplomats there that's there, I am very sorry. Right now I need an exit so I can get people out then I can start getting people back in.

MOS: Is there another exit?

POLICE/SECURITY: There are no other exits right now so it is the way that it is, I'm sorry.

MOS: You blocked the entrance, you blocked the entrance

POLICE/SECURITY: STEP BACK PLS

LILING: Where's the entrance? Where's the entrance? Agghh

LILING: Excuse me, excuse me. I am a UN staff member can I get in?

POLICE/SECURITY: No, no, not right now. This is the exit entrance - you have to go around, yeah? No entrance?

LILING: But when we started to stand in this queue nobody told us it's an exit

POLICE/SECURITY: Now I am telling you this is the EXIT and only EXIT

LILING: So all these people waiting here ...(sighs in frustration) agghhh
But nobody told us this. We were standing here for so long!

POLICE/SECURITY: But now I am telling you, I am telling you now Dear! I am telling you now. You're not coming in here no matter how long you're standing here.

LILING: That policeman really lied to me!

Narrator: So again Liling had to walk. But she made the best of it by talking to her fellow walkers about guess what - climate change. First, she asked Gambian youth delegate Ebrima Dem of the non-governmental organization Global Unification, what his message was for Copenhagen:

My message is that the world leaders here, I mean the policy makers, let them come up with and "FEB" agreement, that is a fair, equitable and just agreement and especially an agreement that puts into account the voice of young people of this world because we have to understand that whatever decision reached here today must have a direct bearing on us. We are the future leaders. We are the most vulnerable group to climate change which means that every decision they are supposed to do here must have a direct bearing or must put into account what young people think should be done.

What exactly is your voice? What exactly do you want to tell?

Basically all I'm saying here is the voice of young Africans, it's in line with the African position,that is talking more about energy transfer and supporting African countries to also develop. But then my advice to our governments - don't do the same mistake that the developed countries like the Annex one countries did to pollute the environment to develop. We can still develop by embarking on clean strategies.

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And everybody is talking. How can you make your voice be heard?

We are the young people. We believe that it's time for action and then what we are trying to do - we have what we call "the African Group of Young People". We also have the European, EU Youth Group, so it's like we are working in partnership with the EU Youth Group so we can come up with a unanimous agreement that we could present to the world leaders and say look this is what the voice of the young people of the whole world are saying.

You are urging the leaders to take action...

Now! ..

Yes. Right now. But at the same time, what can young people do to help to control the climate change?

There's a lot we can do with regard to controlling or mitigating or coming up with some decisions/strategy to control climate change, that's number one, we can lobby actively with our policy makers to make some good decisions regarding climate change. That is one. We can also embark on advocacy work among ourselves because we are young people. We know each other. We understand each other and we listen to each other. So we can teach each other what we are supposed to do with regard to climate change. And three, we can also embark on climate change step-down approaches such as planting trees for example. Maybe embarking on re-forestation strategy and a number of other things we can do. We can visit schools, talk to young people about climate change, teach them what they are supposed to do and something like that. There is a lot that young people can do with regard to this global problem of climate change.

Thank you so much.

MOS: we are demonstrating against this COP 15 because the non-governmental organizations are not involved in the process, it's a closed process; we have no chance to make anything, to have a chance to make something. Sorry my English is not so good.

LILING: It's alright. But you know Bella Center can only have a capacity of 15,000 people. There are more than 45 thousand registered so it is practically impossible to grant us access to so many people what do you think?

MOS: but they don't let in today, there are not 15, 000 people in there, they don't let me in, okay, I am accredited, I have the second badge, and they don't let me in.

LILING: Okay, Thank you so much!

Producers: Beng Poblete-Enriquez/Gerry Adams
Duration: 5'06"