“It depends on our actions to save the planet because we have inherited it and, as responsible citizens and parents, we must bequeath it to you, our children, in a better condition. Climate change is happening here and now, and we have no time for hesitation,” Deputy Minister of Environment and Water Reneta Koleva addressed the young participants in the meeting of the Children’s Council held today in the “Boyana” residence.

In her intervention, she presented current issues related to climate change - what are greenhouse gases; what are the consequences of climate change; what are the international documents and scientific reports on the subject; what is the Green Deal, what are the EU’s climate change mitigation and adaptation policies, as well as the national adaptation policies. Each of us can take concrete measures, through the implementation of which we can help mitigate climate change - she added and shared with the students how each of us can contribute in our daily lives.

Reneta Koleva had a fruitful conversation with the students and spoke about how separate waste collection helps to reduce the amount of waste, she related to them what the “path” of recycled waste is and what it is used for. Koleva explained to the children how the package deposit system works. Some of the students had already used the system and expressed their desire to see it introduced it throughout Bulgaria. Reneta Koleva assured them that the MOEW is working hard to introduce a national deposit system as soon as possible.

The Deputy Minister shared with the young participants that the Ministry is conducting a national campaign “Let’s put an end to pollution”. “We located the so-called ‘points’ that are illegally used for waste disposal and we gave the municipalities a deadline to clean them up. We are now checking whether this has been done,” she said. All employees of the structures of the MOEW participate in the campaign. The teams have already cleaned polluted areas throughout the country, and the initiative continues and involves other institutions and citizens, to provide an example of what we can achieve together.

The Children’s Council is an advisory body to the Chairman of the State Agency for Child Protection (SACP) and since 2003 has been working in implementation of the basic principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Child Protection Act, whereby its main objective is to promote children participation in policy-making and decision-making that affects them. The Children’s Council includes representatives from the 28 administrative regions in the country, 4 quota seats for children from vulnerable groups and 1 quota seat for a representative of children with international protection in Bulgaria.