US President Barack Obama opens his own Facebook page with climate change message

US President Barack Obama has opened an official Facebook account, launching it with a video discussing climate change.

Mr Obama already had a Facebook page promoting his political activities, but he described the new account as "my very own page".

He wrote: "Hello, Facebook! I finally got my very own page.

"I hope you’ll think of this as a place where we can have real conversations about the most important issues facing our country – a place where you can hear directly from me, and share your own thoughts and stories. (You can expect some just-for-fun stuff, too.)"

More than 20,000 people had liked the page within an hour of the first post.

The video shows Mr Obama walking in the back garden of the White House - which is a National Park - discussing the wildlife there.

He says in the film: "I want to make sure that the beauty of this particular national park, but also national parks all across the country, and our planet, are going to be there for Malia, Sasha (his daughters), their kids, their grand-kids, for generations to come.

"If all of America is joining around this critical project, then we can have confidence that we're doing right by future generations and passing onto our kids all the blessings that we've received.