Young people rally world leaders to act on climate change and sustainable development
As he rises to the podium to deliver a statement on behalf of young people, he ‘comes out of his shell’ – speaking with an urgency, passion and confidence.
27 February 2020: Victoria Falls – In an auditorium filled with over 2000 delegates attending the African Regional Forum on Sustainable Development, 16-year-old UNICEF climate advocate, Nkosilathi Nyathi sits unassumingly on the main stage surrounded by world leaders including the United Nations Deputy Secretary General, Amina Mohammed, and the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa.
As he rises to the podium to deliver a statement on behalf of young people, he ‘comes out of his shell’ – speaking with an urgency, passion and confidence. He calls upon leaders to take the message back to all corners of the world – that the time to act on climate change is now.
Nkosi was born and raised in Victoria Falls town, which provides him with a unique perspective to speak on the urgent need to place climate at the top of the Sustainable Development Goals. Victoria Falls is a town that has recently been in the global spotlight due to the devastating impact of climate change, drought and experienced torrential rains in the day preceding the Summit.
“I grew up just a few minutes from where we are today. And while I grew up in poverty, with everybody struggling all around me. I noticed something that affected the poverty of my community, of my family and friends, just as much as all the economic and social problems and the political issues we face in my country. It was the environment! Our natural world around us, our atmosphere and our biodiversity,” he said.
Nkosi’s journey to activism began many years ago when he was ten years old at his school’s environmental club. His passion led him to invent and build a biogas stove at his home using composted food scraps to create natural gas for is family to cook with.
He has taken his passion for climate change, along with other young global climate activists to beat the drum about the urgency of prioritizing climate change in Zimbabwe and at the global level. Most recently he spoke at the COP25 Madrid where he joined other young activists including Greta Thurnberg from Sweden and Hilda Nakabuye from Uganda.
In Spain he called on the leaders at the COP to work extra hard to solve the climate and biodiversity emergency.
“I also made a plea to involve us – the voices and opinions of children and young people – in creating the policies and making decisions about the climate and environment, that in the end will impact us and our children in the future. We are here. We are smart. We are activists. We have solutions. Involve us,” he said to a clearly roused audience at the SDG Forum.
A few hours later, on the same stage at, 17-year-old Zimbabwe Junior Parliamentarian, Vanessa Chivhuzhe, challenged delegates, particularly women, to act more decisively on gender equality and take advantage of science and technology to equalise the existing gender disparities.
“Today I want to say to every women and girl here today, let’s take control. Let’s take these opportunities, because if we keep asking for them, we will continue to be denied,” she said.
“We still see major issues here in Zimbabwe and in Africa. Women and girls still have less access to quality education, gender based violence and child marriage is still way to common, pregnant women face limitations to good health care and many girls don’t have access to menstrual health and hygiene.”
The energy of the young people was pulpable throughout the event and it was evident that student leaders, activists, the science enthusiasts, young sports stars and academics were demanding to be included in rooms where the future was being discussed. “Listen to our views and ideas,” Nkosi said. “Because nothing about us, without us, is for us.”
