Hello from the Netherlands! My name is Annie, and I live in Katwijk. My country is very flat. It is also very low – in some places, if it were not for the high dykes keeping the sea out, the land would be underwater!

There are many wonderful things to see in the Netherlands – windmills, huge fields of tulips as far as the eye can see (and that is very far indeed!) and beautiful canals. In addition, because the country is so flat, many people use bicycles, which helps keep the air clean. It is a peaceful country – you would think that we have no worries or problems. But we do.

It is climate change that is worrying us. Do you know what that is? Well, the climate of the world is changing. Do you know why that worries us? Because some parts of my country are very low. If the world keeps getting hotter, warmer seas may expand. The volume of seawater would then increase and threaten parts of our country. Can you imagine swimming to school?

Here in the Netherlands, where dykes protect so much of our low-lying land, we know that if the sea were to rise above the dykes, or if a dyke were to break, then parts of our country could be inundated. My house, which is located near the sea, would be lost.

 I find this scary. Don’t you?