New Delhi, Sept 25 : Hundreds of children from 12 different schools swept the streets of the Capital on Tuesday as part of a global drive launched by the Australian High Commission in India to clean up the world.

Holding banners and placards showing massages on environment, students participated in this annual campaign along with their teachers and other volunteers from the Australian High Commission.

"We are working to clean up the world not just here in Delhi, but around 120 countries in the world. The school children have come to help us do this. We have been doing this since 2000, and we are hoping that we can make a difference in each local community by picking up the rubbish with volunteer efforts," said David Holly, Australian Deputy High Commissioner to India.

The campaign-- Clean-Up the World-- is undertaken to generate awareness about the environmental concerns like pollution and global warming among youngsters. It is carried out globally in 120 countries.

The students enthusiastically picked up the brooms and dusted the streets to clean up the city.

"It is very important for our environment. As we all know global warming is becoming a menace. So, to stop it, we should do something. We have an eco-club in our school, and we try to at least do a little bit towards the environment," said Kunal Mishra, a student of ninth grade.

India is at the receiving end of some of the effects of the global warming with frequent floods, cyclones and droughts regularly hitting parts of the impoverished nation.

A report issued last week by the Blacksmith Institute, an American environmental group, put listed two Indian places in one of the ten most polluted areas in the world.

The report said that China and India's 10 worst pollution black spots together account for a third of the world's 30 most polluted places. (With inputs from ANI)