OTTAWA (November 25, 2009) - British Council Climate Champions, Lily Jackson from Victoria, British Columbia and Cassandra Andrew from Whitehorse, Yukon will be heading to Copenhagen from Dec. 5 to 11 to make their voices heard as world leaders gather for the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference in a bid to reach an international agreement on reducing global gas emissions.

They will join two hundred Climate Champions from more than forty countries worldwide to attend the widely anticipated international summit (COP15) in Denmark between 7 – 18 December, 2009, as part of the British Council’s Climate Champions programme.

The Climate Champions represent part of the wider United Nations’ Youth Constituency for UNFCCC of over 2000 young people attending Copenhagen. Lily and Cassandra will be involved in a wide range of activities including interventions at meetings with official delegations and presentations about the Cape Farewell Youth Expedition at the WWF International Arctic Program tent in downtown Copenhagen.

The British Council’s Climate Champion programme is a growing global network of individuals aged between 14 and 35 years of age who share an interest in finding sustainable solutions to tackle climate change in their communities, whether they come from government, business, education, the media or civil society.

Climate champions have already played a part at the United Nations conferences on climate change in Bali and Poznan, the Global Humanitarian Forums in Geneva and the G8 Environment Ministers’ Meeting in Kobe, Japan, last year.

The British Council is recognized by the UNFCCC as an organisation working with youth in the arena of climate change, supporting successful implementation of Article 6 of the UNFCCC convention on education, training and public awareness.

Marking its 75th anniversary this year, the British Council – the UK’s international body for cultural relations – sees stronger intercultural dialogue as one of the best strategies for building the understanding between nations which is necessary for finding long-lasting solutions to climate change.

For more information and to find out how to get involved, please visit: www.britishcouncil.org/climatechange

For further information, or to interview any of the Climate Champions, please contact:

Margret Brady Nankivell, Programmes & Communications Manager
Tel: 1 (613) 364-6237 or Cell: 1 (613) 301-5922 E-mail: margret.brady@britishcouncil.org

Tripti Saha, Programmes and Technical Advisor
Cell: 1 (613) 818-4923 E-mail: tripti.saha@britishcouncil.org

BACKGROUNDER

Lily Jackson is an 18-year old undergraduate student in her first year of study at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. In September 2008, Lily participated in the British Council’s Cape Farewell Youth Expedition, where she sailed aboard a research vessel from Iceland, to Greenland, to Baffin Island studying the effects of climate change on the Arctic. After the expedition, Lily returned to her high school, Belmont Secondary - where she received the award for best all-round grade 12 student - to raise awareness of climate change to her fellow students. She created the “Dear Climate” exercise, where students wrote letters to a personified climate. As the president of Belmont’s music department, Lily also collaborated with a fellow musician and young composer to create a performance of an original symphonic composition and photographic slide show, both of which represented the destruction of the Arctic due to climate change.

Cassandra A. is a 17-year old grade 12 student attending Porter Creek Secondary School in Whitehorse, Yukon. She loves to keep herself busy by staying involved in many extra curricular activities through the school and otherwise. She is a committed athlete and highly academic student who received the Elks Lodge # 306 Distinguished Senior Student Award in 2008. She is an active member of her high school's Social Justice Club that fundraises for various causes and makes sandwiches every week for local homeless people. Her passion lies with the environment. She had the opportunity to be a voyager for the 2008 Cape Farewell Youth Expedition. This experience has led to extensive advocacy of environmental awareness in her community, including the creation of the Green Team at her school. She has since participated in Power Shift in Ottawa, Ontario with other Canadian youth and presented at the Environment Yukon Forum 2009. She plans to pursue an education in veterinary medicine with a minor in environmental studies in University.