 | The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline for biographies .(May 2022) |
Ayakha Melithafa | |
|---|---|
 Melithafa in 2020 | |
| Born | 2001or2002(age 20–21) Eerste River, Western Cape, South Africa |
Ayakha Melithafa (born 2001or2002) [1] is a South African environmental activist. [2] [3] [4] [5]
Melithafa is from Eerste River, Western Cape, a suburb of Cape Town. [6] She is currently[ when? ] a student at the Centre of Science and Technology in Khayelitsha. [7]
Melithafa was one of 16 children, including Greta Thunberg, Alexandria Villaseñor, Carl Smith, and Catarina Lorenzo to file a complaint to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child for failing to adequately address the climate crisis. [8] [9] [10] [11]
Melithafa also contributed to the Project 90 by 2030 YouLead initiative, a South African organisation committed to a 90% reduction in carbon by 2030. [12] She was recruited by Ruby Sampson in March 2019 to join the African Climate Alliance Youth Spokesteam, where she was given opportunities to do presentations, attend conferences and other climate action events. She also serves as a recruitment official for the African Climate Alliance. [2]
In particular, Melithafa advocates for the inclusion of diverse voices in climate activism:
"It’s very important for poor people and people of colour to go to these protests and marches because they are feeling the wrath of climate change the most. It’s important for them to have a say, for their voice and their demands to be heard." --- Ayakha Melithafa [7]
The climate movement is a global social movement focused on pressuring governments and industry to take action addressing the causes and impacts of climate change. Environmental non-profit organizations have engaged in significant climate activism since the late 1980s and early 1990s, as they sought to influence the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Climate activism has become increasingly prominent over time, gaining significant momentum during the 2009 Copenhagen Summit and particularly following the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2016.
Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg is a Swedish environmental activist known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change mitigation.
The September 2019 climate strikes, also known as the Global Week for Future, were a series of international strikes and protests to demand action be taken to address climate change, which took place from 20–27 September 2019. The strikes' key dates were 20 September, which was three days before the United Nations Climate Summit, and 27 September. The protests took place across 4,500 locations in 150 countries. The event stemmed from the Fridays for Future school strike for climate movement, inspired by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. The Guardian reported that roughly 6 million people participated in the events, whilst 350.org – a group that organised many of the protests – claim that 7.6 million people participated.
The 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP25, was the 25th United Nations Climate Change conference. It was held in Madrid, Spain, from 2 to 13 December 2019 under the presidency of the Chilean government. The conference incorporated the 25th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 15th meeting of the parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP15), and the second meeting of the parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA2).
Alexandria Villaseñor is an American climate activist living in New York. A follower of the Fridays for Future movement and of fellow climate activist Greta Thunberg, Villaseñor is a co-founder of U.S. Youth Climate Strike and the founder of Earth Uprising.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg made a double crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in 2019 to attend climate conferences in New York City and, until it was moved, Santiago, Chile. She sailed from Plymouth, UK, to New York, United States aboard the racing yacht Malizia II, returning from Hampton, Virginia, to Lisbon on the catamaran La Vagabonde. Thunberg refuses to fly because of the carbon emissions of the airline industry and the trip was announced as carbon neutral. As a racing sailboat, the Malizia II has no toilet, fixed shower, cooking facilities or proper beds.
The 2019 UN Climate Action Summit was held at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York City on 23 September 2019. The UN 2019 Climate Summit convened on the theme, "Climate Action Summit 2019: A Race We Can Win. A Race We Must Win." The goal of the summit was to further climate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to prevent the mean global temperature from rising by more than 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) above preindustrial levels. Sixty countries were expected to "announce steps to reduce emissions and support populations most vulnerable to the climate crisis" including France, a number of other European countries, small island countries and India. To increase pressure on political and economic actors to achieve the aims of the summit, a global climate strike was held around the world on 20 September with over four million participants.
Catarina Lorenzo is Brazilian climate activist from Salvador, Bahia.
Xiye Bastida Patrick is a Mexican climate activist and member of the Indigenous Otomi community. She is one of the major organizers of Fridays for Future New York City and has been a leading voice for indigenous and immigrant visibility in climate activism. She is on the administration committee of the People's Climate Movement and a former member of Sunrise Movement and Extinction Rebellion. She cofounded Re-Earth Initiative, an international nonprofit organization that is inclusive and intersectional “just as the climate movement should be.” Xiye is pronounced /she-yeh/, [ʃi-jɛ], meaning not available.
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has been noted for her skills as an orator. Her speech at the 2019 United Nations climate summit made her a household name. Prior to her speaking engagements, Thunberg had demonstrated outside the Swedish parliament, the Riksdag, using the signage Skolstrejk för klimatet.
Licypriya Kangujam is a child environmental activist from India. One of the youngest climate activists globally, she addressed world leaders at the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Madrid, Spain, asking them to take immediate climate action. Licypriya has been campaigning for climate action in India since 2018, to pass new laws to curb India's high pollution levels, and to make climate-change literacy mandatory in schools. She has been regarded as India's Greta Thunberg, though she does not like the usage of this term.
Vanessa Nakate is a Ugandan climate justice activist.
Jerome Foster II is an American environmental activist. He is the youngest-ever White House Advisor in United States history, as a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council within the Biden administration. Foster is a leading voice for marginalized and working class communities in spaces pushing for social, economic and environmental justice. Foster is one of the major organizers of Fridays for Future; holding weekly climate strikes at the front gates of the White House for over 57 weeks. He has previously served as a congressional intern for U.S. Representative John Lewis at the age of 16 and served on the Washington DC State Board of Education's Advisory Council at the age of 14.
Ridhima Pandey is an Indian environmental activist who advocates for action against climate change. She has been likened to Greta Thunberg. When she was nine years old, she filed a suit against the Indian government for not taking enough steps to combat climate change. She also was one of the complainants to the United Nations, along with several other young climate activists, against several nations' failure to take action against the climate crisis.
Yola Mgogwana is a South African climate activist from Khayelitsha, Cape Town.
Disha Annappa Ravi is an Indian youth climate change activist and a founder of Fridays For Future India. Her arrest on 13 February 2021 for an alleged involvement with an online toolkit related to Greta Thunberg and the 2020–2021 Indian farmers' protests gained international attention. The Indian government alleged that the toolkit, a standard social justice communications and organizing document, providing a list of ways to support the farmers' protests, fomented unrest and a form of sedition. The arrest was widely criticized both within India, and internationally.
Chiara Sacchi is an Argentinian climate activist from Buenos Aires.
Mitzi Jonelle Tan is a Filipino climate justice activist. She lives in Metro Manila, Philippines.
Iris Duquesne is a French climate activist who originates from Bordeaux. On Monday, September 23, 2019, she lodged a complaint against France, Germany, Argentina, Brazil and Turkey. Together with fifteen other young people from around the world, including Greta Thunberg, she denounced the inaction of leaders on the climate plan as an infringement of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Raeesah Noor-Mahomed is a South African climate action activist based in Cape Town. She is the founder of Stage for Change.