Climate emergency | Who will carry the voice of young people?

Activist Greta Thunberg has already indicated that she will not be attending COP27, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. “It’s time to pass the megaphone to those who really have stories to tell. We need new perspectives,” said the now 19-year-old. Focus on five young people who denounce the inaction of governments in the face of the climate emergency.

Eric-Pierre Champagne
The Press

Rahmina Paulette, 16 years old

Rahmina Paulette has been described as “African Greta” by the Swiss daily Time, who has just dedicated a portrait to him. Born in Kenya, the teenager is interested in the effects of pollution in her country and, above all, in the financial promises of the States of the North to help the countries of the South in the face of climate change. At the end of October, she headlined a protest against plastic pollution in Kenya’s Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest lake at 68,100 km.^⁠2. Rahmina Paulette says she is “personally affected” by climate change in a country where 60% of the population is under 25 years old.

Vanessa Nakate, 25 years old

A graduate in business administration from Makerere University, Uganda, Vanessa Nakate has been campaigning since 2018 to make Africa’s voice heard on climate change. In 2019, she stated that “literally, in [son] country, lack of rain means starvation and death for the less privileged. Remember that Uganda has one of the youngest populations in the world: nearly 70% of its citizens are under 25 years old. It is also one of the poorest countries in the world with an average annual income of US$2200 per person. In 2021, Vanessa Nakate makes the cover of the magazine Time and is on the list of the 100 personalities of the future of the American media.

Dominika Lasota, 20 years old

Like Greta Thunberg, Dominika Lasota is an activist in favor of the school strike for the climate, “Fridays for the Future”, launched by the young Swede. She is also very critical of international meetings on the climate. M^me Lasota told the New York Times that “so-called CEOs fly in to show they care, but all they care about is drinking champagne with the CEOs.” The young Polish woman is campaigning in particular to put an end to the use of fossil fuels. “We need real solutions and not more deadly fossil gases that fuel wars and climate chaos,” she said in a press release Monday.

Camille Etienne, 24 years old

In 2020, the French activist participated in a video to denounce the inaction of governments in the face of the climate emergency. “We are the first generation to experience the consequences of global warming and the last to be able to do something about it,” she said. She also spoke at the European Parliament with Greta Thunberg to advocate for stronger climate measures. In 2021, she filed a complaint against five ministers of Emmanuel Macron’s government for their inaction, an action which was deemed inadmissible by the courts. In 2020, the magazine Vanity Fair chose her among the 50 French women who marked the year.

Francisco Vera, 13 years old

The young Colombian participated in COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland. Despite his young age, Francisco Vera has already received death threats. “I grew up in the mountains with ducks, chickens, goats and birds,” he told the BBC last year. This is what pushed me to defend animal rights and then to become an environmental activist. The boy founded a social movement of children fighting against climate change called Gardianes por la Vida (Guardians for Life). He also participates in COP27, where he is one of the headliners of the Children and Youth Pavilion.