The U.N. Environment Program's Fifth Tunza International Children's Conference on the Environment opens today in the United States for five days of activities designed to educate youth about the environment and encourage them to debate environmental problems.

About 500 children between the ages of 10 and 13 will attend the event in New London, Conn., where they will focus on four themes: endangered species; indigenous peoples; oceans, rivers and waterways; and resource conservation.

At the end of the week, the children will prepare a list of environmental proposals to world leaders and the United Nations.

Prominent environmentalists will facilitate the conference and UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer will hold a discussion tomorrow with the participants.

Hosted by the International Coalition for Children and the Environment, the conference is part of a long-term strategy to engage youth in environmental issues agreed upon at UNEP's 22nd Governing Council session last year

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