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Licypriya Kangujam, a 12-year-old climate justice activist from India, rushed onto the stage at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai on Monday, holding a sign above her head that read: “End fossil fuels. Save our planet and our future.” Kangujam was later escorted away as the audience clapped, news agency Reuters reported.
Sharing a video clip of her protest on social media X, Kangujam said, “They detained me for over 30 minutes after this protest. My only crime- Asking to Phase Out Fossil Fuels, the top cause of climate crisis today. Now they kicked me out of COP28.”
Sharing a statement in another post, Kangujam wrote, “Governments must work together to phase out coal, oil and gas – the top cause of the climate crisis today. Your action today will decide our future tomorrow. We are already the victim of climate change. I don’t want my future generations to face the same consequences again. Sacrificing the lives of the millions of innocent children for the failures of our leaders is unacceptable at any cost.”
“Millions of children like me are losing their lives, losing their parents and losing their homes due to climate disasters. This is real climate emergency. Instead of spending billions of dollars in wars, Spend it on ending hunger, giving education and fighting climate change. We want clean air to breathe, clean water to drink and clean planet to live. Asking clean air to breathe, clean water to drink and clean planet to live is our basic rights,” she added.
COP28 director-general ambassador Majid Al Suwaidi said he admired the enthusiasm of young people at COP28 and encouraged the audience to give Kangujam another round of applause, Reuters reported.
Public protests have been limited at the United Nations talks that are being held in the United Arab Emirates, which bans many organised groups, including political parties and labour unions.
News agency AP reported negotiators haggled deep into the night to try to strike a deal to halt global warming at United Nations climate talks, with Western powers and vulnerable developing countries worried that a proposed text fell far short of goals to save the planet.
A new draft released on Monday of what’s known as the global stocktake — the part of talks that assesses where the world is at with its climate goals and how it can reach them — called for countries to reduce “consumption and production of fossil fuels, in a just, orderly and equitable manner.”
The release triggered a frenzy of fine-tuning by government envoys and rapid analysis by advocacy groups, just hours before the planned late morning finish to the talks on Tuesday — even though many observers expect the finale to run over time, as is common at the annual UN talks.
Born on October 2, 2011, Kangujam is the founder of The Child Movement. She has been championing for it since she was six years. Kangujam is one of the youngest climate activists globally and addressed the world leaders in the United Nations Climate Conference 2019 (COP25) in Madrid, Spain, calling the world leaders to take immediate climate actions to save their future.
Kangujam is a World Children Peace Prize Laureate 2019, Rising Star of Earth Day Network 2019, Global Child Prodigy Award Winner 2020, Winner of the prestigious TN Khushoo Memorial Award 2020, Forber 30 Under 30 Special Mentions 2021 and Recipient of International Women’s Day Award 2021 from Delhi government.
Kangujam began advocating against climate change in July 2018. On June 21, 2019, inspired by the climate activist Greta Thunberg, she started spending a week outside Parliament House to draw the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pass a climate change law in India.
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