KUALA LUMPUR: A young, suave executive in suit and tie talks about rising sea levels as he flounders about in his watery office with cartoonish fish and squids darting past his way.

This comical video on the serious message of tackling climate change is one of the UN's latest efforts used increasingly to reach out to the people.

With youth making up half of the urban dwellers in the world, even giant bodies like UN have to structure their outreach efforts accordingly.

"We have to find out how UN and its organisations can appeal to the young, because if youth are not involved in this, all our solutions to today's problems won't be sustainable," said Lilei Chow.

The world, as the United Nations Population Fund points out on its site, is undergoing the largest wave of urban growth in its history.
The three billion population of towns and cities in 2005 will increase by 1.8 billion by 2030, with urban population of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa doubling in less than a generation.

Today, about a quarter of all people on Earth are between the ages of 10 and 25.

For urbanites and the Generation Y, connectivity is the buzzword.

"As a global community, the UN forges co-operation at the global level," said Chow.

"What better way to do it than through the Internet? We're all connected. The Internet allows us to traverse space and time."

In recent years, no stone has been left unturned in the UN's quest to make full use of the new media to initiate behavioural change.

For example, the video, screened together with other public service announcement clips on mobile televisions, the Internet, and news channels all over Bangkok, was aimed to drive traffic to a specific website -- 12simplethings.org -- which lists easy steps in reducing one's carbon footprint.

It is hoped that the behaviour change (logging onto the site) would subsequently breed practical actions on the visitors' part.

Chow, UNDP Malaysia's communication associate, is trying to bring these public announcement clips to the country soon.

"The whole point of outreach programmes is to change the behaviour of people on the ground towards issues like climate change.

"By using these tools, we hope people will get a sense of empowerment that they can do something."

UN has also linked up with two big names in the new media industry -- Google and YouTube.

The MDG Monitor, a website which shows how countries are progressing in their efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, has an interactive Google Earth application.

Clicking on the MDG banner highlighted above each country allows one to track the progress around the world .

UNDP also has a YouTube channel where videos on development are posted.

In place of texts upon texts on the effects brought about by climate are intense visuals on the prolonged droughts in Ethiopia to the floods of Bangladesh.

More important than feeding the people's visual needs is the fact that information and communication technology is a key equaliser tool, one which the UNDP is pushing throughout the developing world.