Licypriya Kangujam from India - the world’s youngest climate activist - stands with Greta Thunberg and demands three new policies

• At Cop25, an eight-year-old girl Licypriya Kangujam from Manipur is demanding action from the Indian government.
  
• In an interview with Business Insider India, Licypriya Kangujam, discusses the three key suggestions to the government.
  
• Licypriya believes that the government does not take climate change seriously and hence doesn’t have a law for it.
  

As climate change is becoming real, activists who demand action are getting younger. At the UN’s COP25 event, an eight-year-old girl Licypriya Kangujam from Manipur is demanding action from the Indian government.

She stood with Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg with a placard that read, “Dear Mr Modi, pass the climate change law in the ongoing Parliament session as soon as possible from the paper to become action. Your future generations will praise you. I will not stop until you do this.”


Three policies

Licypriya who does not attend school, has three key suggestions to the government. One of them is to keep their promise at the Paris Climate Agreement which is — to help reduce global temperatures to 1.5°C by 2030.

“There are three policies that I would like the government to introduce. If there is a climate law in India, we can achieve zero carbon emissions and can control other greenhouse gases. Second is the compulsory inclusion of climate change as a subject in school curriculum. Thirdly, minimum 100 tree plantations should be made mandatory for high school students, 500 for undergraduates, and 1,000 for university students -- to pass their final exam,” Licypriya told Business Insider India.

Licypriya believes that the government does not take climate change seriously and hence doesn’t have a law for it.

Now is the right time

Licypriya, the world’s youngest climate activist, started when she attended Asia Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, in June 2018. There she spoke about the intertwined relation between natural disasters and climate crisis and urged the government to act.

But climate change activism is costing her an education. She missed most of her classes to attend seminars and stand outside the Parliament every week.

“First nobody believed that a child of just 6 years working for environment protection and conservation,” she said.

She didn’t have funds to attend COP25

When United Nations sent Licypriya an invitation to participate in COP25, she decided not to go due to cash crush. This was even after her supporters contributed ₹50,000 and one of them booked her flight.

“Unfortunately funds were not enough as I require about minimum ₹4 lakhs to manage the flight, accommodation and meals and visas, etc,” she added.

She sought help from at least four cabinet ministers including environment minister Prakash Javadekar but received no response. Later, the Spanish Government and European Climate Foundation funded her trip.

At her COP25 speech on December 10, she will urge governments to come together.


The young girl who dreams of a zero emission world has set sights on something much bigger for herself too. She wants to explore space. Next year, she wants to drive a solar car for 18000 kms (with an adult) from India to the UK where the event will be held.


See also:
Climate change cost India over 2000 lives and $37 billion in just a year
The relatively small upside of India's economic slowdown