climate activists - The African Mirror

Jun

2021

Young climate activists need a seat at the decision-making table – on and offline

NKOSILATHI NYATHI WHEN I stood in the registration queue at COP25, the 25th UN climate talks in Madrid in 2019, I was really inspired to see people not only from diverse cultures in their native cultural dress, but also so many young people. At 16 years old, I was able to meet with decision-makers face-to-face and tell them exactly what my generation wanted. Participating at the summit gave me hope and confidence that my message was aired on an international stage that promised tangible action. And I wasn’t the only one. More than 26,700 people registered to attend COP25, from…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

Legal opinion puts governments ‘on notice’ over export finance for fossil fuels

ENVIRONMENT

MEGAN ROWLING GOVERNMENTS could face litigation if they do not step up efforts to stop their export credit agencies financing fossil fuel infrastructure and activities overseas, legal experts and climate activists warned on Tuesday. Advocacy group Oil Change International released a legal opinion saying the agencies - which provide loans, insurance and guarantees for businesses to invest abroad - should stop lending to oil, coal and gas projects around the world immediately. "If they continue doing this, they are breaching international law," said Jorge E. Viñuales, a professor of law and environmental policy at the University of Cambridge who authored the opinion…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigerian teen climate activists create fashion from waste to fight pollution

NEWS

ANGELA UKOMADU and SEUN SANNI IN a district of Lagos, Nigeria's megacity, a group of teenagers wade through a mass of plastic bottles, food containers and bags that have blocked a waterway. Wearing gloves and masks, they pick up the discarded plastic and drop them into refuse bags. Their aim is to enable water to flow around the waterway that was constructed to prevent flooding in the city's Sangotedo district, while raising awareness of the problems caused by single-use plastic. "We need to start now because in a few years it's going to be too late to do anything," said…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Move into government, U.N. official urges young climate activists

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION, ENVIRONMENT

LAURIE GOERING A generation of young activists eager to set the agenda on global warming and clean energy should seek government jobs as a way to get lagging climate and energy goals back on track, a top U.N. energy official said on Tuesday. "We can't keep doing things from outside," Damilola Ogunbiyi, co-chair of U.N. Energy and chief executive of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforAll), told an online youth summit on achieving universal clean energy access. With the world falling behind on goals to bring clean, affordable energy to billions more people by 2030, "changing the minds of leaders has to happen…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Armed with proposals, young climate activists hunt decision-making power

ENVIRONMENT

LAURIE GOERING UNABLE to hold large-scale street protests safely during this year's pandemic, young climate activists are using their energy to craft their own climate policies and battling for decision-making power to make them a reality. "We might not have the same attention as before... (but) we are going where the decisions are taken," said Marie-Claire Graf, a Swiss member of the U.N. climate body's youth constituency, during an online event on Thursday. Taking to the streets in 2019 was "crucial" to raise public awareness about climate threats, she said. Now, however, "we need young people to make the regulations,…