Archana Soreng joins six other young climate leaders from around the world.
The United Nations:
An Indian climate activist has been appointed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to his new advisory group of young leaders who will provide perspectives and solutions to deal with the worsening climate crisis as the body Global is mobilizing action as part of the resumption of COVID-19 efforts.
Archana Soreng joins six other young climate leaders from around the world who have been named by Mr. Guterres to his new Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change.
Ms. Soreng is “experienced in advocacy and research, and she works to document, preserve and promote traditional knowledge and cultural practices of indigenous communities,” the UN said in a statement Monday.
“Our ancestors protected the forest and nature over the centuries through their traditional knowledge and practices. It is now up to us to be the leaders in tackling the climate crisis,” said Ms. Soreng, who studied regulatory governance at the Tata Institute. of Social Sciences (TISS) Mumbai and is the former President of the TISS Students Union.
The young activists, aged 18 to 28, will regularly advise the UN chief on accelerating global action and ambition to tackle the worsening climate crisis.
The announcement marks a new effort by the United Nations to bring more young leaders into decision-making and planning processes, as the United Nations works to mobilize climate action as part of efforts to recovery of COVID-19.
“We are in a climate emergency. We do not have the luxury of time,” Guterres said in a video announcing the creation of the advisory group.
“We need urgent action now – to better recover from COVID-19, to fight injustice and inequality and to fight climate disruption,” he said.
Mr Guterres said young people are on the front lines of climate action, showing nations and leaders what bold leadership looks like.
“That is why I am launching my Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change today – to provide perspectives, ideas and solutions that will help us scale up climate action,” said the UN chief.
Members of the Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change represent the diverse voices of young people from all regions as well as small island states. They will offer perspectives and solutions on climate change, from science to community mobilization, from entrepreneurship to politics, and from industry to conservation, the UN said.
The initial seven members of the group were chosen to give candid and intrepid advice to the Secretary-General at a time when it is increasingly urgent to hold governments and businesses to account on climate action.
Other selected members of the group are climate activist Nisreen Elsaim from Sudan, Ernest Gibson from Fiji, co-coordinator of 350 Fiji, a regional youth-led climate change network, young economist Vladislav Kaim from Moldova, which is committed to ensuring green and decent jobs for young people.
Sophia Kianni, from the United States, who has helped organize nationwide strikes and is the founder of the international non-profit association Climate Cardinals, founder and coordinator of Generation Climate Europe and spokesperson for Youth and Environment Europe, Nathan Metenier from France and lawyer and human rights defender Paloma Costa from Brazil.
The group’s creation builds on the success of last year’s Youth Climate Summit – the first time a secretary-general has called a youth summit entirely devoted to climate action.
The summit brought together more than 1,000 young climate champions from over 140 countries to share their solutions on the global stage and send a clear message to world leaders: we must act now to tackle the climate crisis. The initiative is also aligned with the Secretary-General’s vision for the United Nations Youth Strategy, launched in September 2018.
