Ian McLean Spokesperson for the Green Party

'Are you here to save face, or are you here to save us?”

With this stirring challenge, 17-year-old Brittany Trilford from Wellington opened the Rio+20 summit.

Brittany was (literally) representing all of the children of the world, just as David Suzuki's 12-year-old daughter, Severn, did 20 years ago with an equally stirring speech.

Alongside Brittany, other inspiring women also focussed outcomes on the needs of future children. In the main, the men did not.

In her +20 speech, Severn Suzuki commented on the failed promise of the 1992 Rio summit. Today, at 32, she has the children for whom she hoped Rio would deliver a better world.

Brittany exited the conference disappointed, as is Severn. We must hope that, at 37, Brittany will be more positive when speaking at Rio+40. But to be brutally honest, her own country is failing her. The fixing must start here, and now.