Young Indian sounds alarm bells on dying earth

By Burak Bir

ANKARA (AA) - Traveling to more than 30 countries to sound the alarm on the climate crisis, an 8-year-old Indian activist has warned that the planet will die and people will soon have no future if necessary steps are not taken immediately.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, climate activist Licypriya Kangujam, founder of "the Child Movement," who has attended numerous international meetings, said the world is not on the right track.

"They have been failing for the last 16 years, even before I was born. They still fail us. And also they ignored us and they are still ignoring us. Our leaders need to listen to young voices and scientists. They should believe in science and act now before it’s too late," she said.

Mentioning that developing and underdeveloped countries and island nations are more vulnerable due to climate change, she stressed that if the world fails to prevent the devastating effects of the climate crisis, the planet and its people will have no future soon.

Touching on the beginning of her journey to activism, she said joining social work and caring for environmental issues is "in her blood," which started by accompanying her father, who is also a local activist.

"In July 2018, when I was just six years old, I got an opportunity to attend a meeting called the 3rd Asia Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risks Reduction 2018 (AMCDRR 2018) in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia. I first raised my voice there to the world leaders," she said.

Defining the meeting in Ulaanbaatar as a life-changing event, the Indian school girl founded “The Child Movement” on July 10, 2018, just after returning to India from Mongolia, with the aim of raising children's voices on the climate crisis.

"I travel place to place to raise my concerns about climate change and disaster risk reduction. So far, I've traveled to more than 32 countries as part of my movement. When I began the movement, I was alone. But today, I have thousands of lovers and supporters across the globe."

Mentioning her parliament strike, which she completed one year of on Feb. 8, Kangujam said Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg "greatly" influenced her in February 2019.

"I dropped out of school in February 2019 due to my protests every week at the parliament house," she said, referring to her aim of convincing the Indian government to pass the climate change law

- 'Greta of India'

Referring to her characterization by some international media outlets as the "Greta of India," Kangujam stressed that this attitude actually means deleting an identity and a story.

"She is also a climate activist. I’m also a climate activist. We are the same. We have millions of voices. We are just one. So I feel it's the right time to address my concerns. Otherwise, in the future, I may lose my identity, [my] unique story," she said.

Kangujam also said she had already begun a movement to fight climate change, -- June, July 2018 -- even before Greta started, adding they are good friends and equally respect each other.

“If you call me ‘Greta of India,’ you are not covering my story. You are deleting a story," she stressed, referring to the COP25 talks in Madrid, where she also faced the same behavior when addressing world leaders.

This problem of an "unfair" attitude, which hurts the Indian activist a lot, is everywhere, and all climate activists in any region or country in the world are referred to as the ‘Gretas’ of those areas, she said.

"Some media are always trying to divide us, but we are on the same side and we are united," she said.

Apart from her main activities at the global level, she said calling on the government to enact the climate law, demanding the inclusion of climate change as a compulsory subject in schools and suggesting a minimum 10 tree plantings for all students to pass final exams are the three main areas where she is making an effort in the context of India.

"All the above three policies may be realized and other countries of the world can follow the same," she said, adding India "will be green" in five years.

Mentioning the positive results of her efforts on the inclusion of climate change as a compulsory school subject in the Indian states of Rajasthan and Gujarat, she said its implementation will be started by the 2020-2021 academic session, which will make India second after Italy and first in Asia implementing climate change as a compulsory subject in the school curriculum.

Regarding the dimension of climate change in India, which ranks as the fifth-most vulnerable country in the world to extreme weather events, Kangujam said climate change will have deep economic and social impacts on the country.

"Studies show that the current level of efforts to slow down global warming will see average temperatures in India rise by 1-2°C by 2050...To this end, the government should signal its intent to transform India into a sustainable, low-carbon, high-growth economy.”