“Our Future will be Powered by the Sun, the Wind, and the People." Young people voiced their solidarity and support for these two pressing needs in the lead-up to COP29. Report UNB
Hundreds of youth Climate Activists joined across Bangladesh to echo the global demand for youth. 350.org Bangladesh organized the global climate strike in 20 cities across the country in partnership with Save the Children in Bangladesh, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) and other youth partners such as Seecto Bangladesh, YASD, World Youth Army, Go Up Foundation, Step Up 4 Tomorrow, Green Milieu, Towards Sustainability, Nirvoy Foundation, Hill Flower and many more youth organizations on the morning of the 20th.
Each year, Fridays for Future organizes two Global Climate Strikes. Last year, young people from over 180 countries showed solidarity and organized strikes in their countries, communities, and networks. The Global Climate Strikes serve as a unified approach for youth to demand climate justice together. This year, the global demand is effective climate financing.
Current climate finance commitments globally are inadequate to tackle climate change. Furthermore, a Save the Children study recently concluded that only 2% of international climate finance is child-focused, exacerbating the multiplicity of climate challenges our nation’s youth face.
Ayesha Akter Eti, the founder of the World Youth Army and a climate activist, said, “We cannot keep relying on fossil fuels anymore. We can see everywhere that fossil fuels are killing us. We have to shift from fossils to renewables now.” Rokon Ahmed, the founder of YASD and a climate activist, echoed Ayesha's words and said, “We have to focus on community-based renewables and provide support to people working on community-based renewables.”
Amanullah Porag, the South Asia Mobilizations Coordinator of 350.org, emphasized the role of people and youth in climate justice and said, “Most of the Asian countries are some of the least contributors of global carbon emissions, but these are the countries who are hit the hardest by climate change, we must ensure that our NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions) are powered by the sun the wind and the people and not the oil companies, we must act now to ensure that no more money is invested in fossil fuels anymore.”
Mohua Rouf, as a representative of Save the Children, stated, “ The state and non-state actors and mechanisms must work together to ensure transparency and accountability to ensure the effectiveness of climate financing. Youths should play a frontline role in advancing the movement towards effective climate financing.”
Bareesh Hasan Chowdhury from BELA said, "The urgency of the climate crisis cannot be overstated and requires urgent action from the international community and our government. It is one thing to talk about the pittance of climate funding available for global south countries and how such finance exacerbates the debt crisis. But it is also important to remind our governments that transparency and accountability are crucial to avoid mismanagement of climate funds and ensure that these funds are put to work for the stakeholders that need them most - frontline communities, women, youth, children, etc. This can only be done when we all sit at the table."
The Global Climate Strikes are a testimony to the power youth hold and the collective approach they show towards climate justice.
