Three local students will attend a United Nations conference on the environment in Eastbourne, England next week.

Krystl Robinson-Assan, 11, of the Bermuda High School for Girls, Taylor Heron, 12, of Whitney Institute, and Devon Adams, 11, of Heron Bay School, will join children from around the world at the United Nation's Millennium International Children's Conference on the Environment.

The conference will run from next Monday, May 22 to May 24.

The students were selected because of their performances in last month's Bermuda Youth 2000 Environmental Conference and the essays they submitted explaining how attending the conference would help them in their plans for environmental advocacy or an environmental project in Bermuda.

Accompanying the students will be Joseph Furbert, a scientist working with the Bermuda Zoological Society's Bermuda Biodiversity Project, who was selected to go to the conference after being one of the leaders involved in the Bermuda conference.

Mr. Furbert said Bermuda was attending the conference, which would include group discussions, for the first time and added that Krystl may make a presentation at the conference.

"It is also hoped,'' said Mr. Furbert, "that the delegation travelling to the conference will see how it is run and organised, and be able to incorporate ideas into next year's Bermuda Youth Environmental Conference.'' The delegate's attendance at the conference is being sponsored by the Stempel Foundation.

The conference offers the participants a unique and historic opportunity to join 1,000 delegates from more than 100 countries in developing innovative ideas on protecting and improving the world's environment.

The first ever International Children's Conference was held in 1995 after it was proposed that governments should pay attention to the concerns and opinions of children regarding the environment.

Organised in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Millennium Children's conference will be a three day event.

It will provide a forum for ten to 12-year-olds to learn, share experiences, voice their concerns, join a worldwide environmental network to promote positive action and produce a charter to present through the United Nations to their respective governments.

Three main topics will be discussed at the conference: on day one, students will discuss "Sharing the Planet''; on day two, the discussion will centre around the topic "Water is Life''; and on day three, the topic will be "Living in Cities''.

Workshops will also be held involving modern technology, music, art and science, and a variety of subjects will be covered including: exploring the Internet for environmental ideas, irrigation and water conservation, supervised experiments using the latest technology and music and drama.

Study tours will also take place around the coast and countryside of Sussex covering marine conservation and water treatment.

Eastward bound: Students Davon Adams, Krystal Robinson-Assan and Taylor Heron and Bermuda Biodiversity Project senior field researcher Joseph Furbert will attend the United Nation's Millennium International Children's Conference in Eastbourne, England from May 22 to May 24.