COP27: Without Greta, activists make waves at climate summit
Young people are a more powerful force than ever in the UN climate summit, the UN’s youngest climate advisor tells BBC News in Egypt.
“Young people are definitely shaping outcomes here at COP27,” Sophia Kianni says.
Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg has skipped the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting, calling it a forum for “greenwashing”.
But young people from countries at high risk from climate change say they are “calling it out” from the inside.
In an address on Tuesday, climate activist Vanessa Nakate from Uganda will tell governments to wash their “oil-stained” hands.
Speaking to G20 nations, she will tell ministers that they must end the “moral and economic madness” of funding fossil fuels and prioritizing short-term politics.
But they say their work has an impact here.
Ayisha Siddiqa, 23, is from Pakistan and is one of the headline speakers at the Children and Youth Pavilion. It’s the first time young people have had a dedicated space like this, where last week activists held a formal meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
It’s one of the most buzzing areas of COP27, with activists jostling to find space to sit and chat on the floor, and Ayisha tells me she’s proud of the space.
“This is for the youth, organized by us. Unlike government and business areas, there’s no corporate branding everywhere,” she says.
She says questions about Greta miss the point about the reality of climate change. This summer, devastating floods killed 1,700 people in her home country Pakistan. “The world has come to an end for people… For me, the stakes are so high that I can’t just give up hope for change,” she says.
But she still traveled here to represent her nomadic community severely affected by drought. “My community is missing here, their voices are totally unheard, and they live in areas with no internet. I just hope I can do my best to bring their message here,” she explains.
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