Maldives President Mohammed Rasheed meets Marius and the other young journalists at the conference

18 December 2009: Story by Plan-supported young reporter Marius (Netherlands) at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

The leader of one of the island countries most threatened by climate change said children can play a key part in clinching an agreement at the Copenhagen talks.

Mohammed Rasheed, President of the Maldives told a group of Plan-supported reporters that he believes there is hope left but he is still skeptical about the true interest of some nations present in at the United Nations talks.

Agreement hope

“I think we could still have a reasonably good agreement in the next 24 hours.
There are some countries who are saying that no deal is better than a bad deal.

“But then I have my suspicions about them because some countries don’t want a deal because it is not in their interest to have a deal.

“You have to do it. It is up to the people. Politicians would only do things that the people want. It is up to the children. You have to convince your people and then leaders will follow. Leaders are only saying what their people want to say.”

Keep going

Asked by the young reporters what he thought about young people being denied access and blocked during this controversial summit, he expressed sympathy and encouraged them to be determined.

“That is very sad you know, I get kicked out many times. But you should not quite worry about that at all. It is a hard life, keep going at it. They throw you out of many places.

“We need to work really hard on this.”

Mr Rasheed added that more investment in renewable technologies such as solar and wind power was needed.

Summing up, he said that money should not affect the talks’ outcome.

“The whole thing is not about money  - it is about our lives.”

Marius is among 11 Plan-supported young journalists quizzing world leaders on their plans to tackle climate change at the Copenhagen conference. Find out more about the young journalists.