WORLD leaders were given an insight into a young person's view on the earth's future when student Shaun Nixon spoke at an international climate conference.

Shaun, 17, of Taylor Street, Barnoldswick, was chosen to represent the UK at the United Nation's conference on climate change in The Hague.

Shaun, a student at Ermysted's Grammar School, Skipton, was among 100 young people from across the world asked to give the conference their views on the future of the planet. He hopes to go on to university to study geography after completing his A-levels.

"It is vitally important that young people be involved in decisions about climate change because it will affect them more than any others," he told the conference.

"Young people should also be involved in the development and facilitation of international policies as they have different perspectives to offer. We live for today and tomorrow, not for yesterday. I am not saying we abandon our past but that we should learn from the mistakes made in order to improve life in the future."

He added: "Action speaks louder than words, yet after eight years of conventions, treaties and protocols we, the young people, see hardly any change in the world at all. Lifestyles have not changed; attitudes have not changed. In fact the only thing that has changed is the climate.

"Surely eight years, thousands of fancy documents and hundreds of meetings after Rio (a previous earth summit), there are plenty of solutions floating around in this ever-deepening sea of ours."

He told world leaders teenagers had far more in common than politicians. "We're all in the same boat, drifting on a sea of intolerance, traditions and censorship, yet we're buzzing with energy, enthusiasm and willingness to change things for the better and do it now," he explained.

He added: "The earth is an awfully big sandpit to be playing in. Over six billion people are relying on us to get it right and before all those precious little bits of sand trickle away between our fingers."