Bangladeshi youths are leading the charge in the struggle for climate justice. Bangladeshi youths, with all due respect, are neither voiceless nor unheard. They have been heard, and it is critical that the adolescents continue to speak up and raise their concerns.
“Bangladesh places our youth at the centre of our transformative development. The voice of the youth is not ignored anymore. I can assure you are not voiceless”, said Bangladesh’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Rabab Fatima while addressing the virtual youth dialogue titled Meaningful Participation at the UN process & Climate Negotiations on Thursday (12 Aug). Marking International Youth Day, YouthNet for Climate Justice & Protiki Jubo Sangshad (Bangladesh Model Youth Parliament) jointly hosted this dialogue partnering with PROKAS, British Council.
Ambassador Rabab Fatima and two expert panelists, Gerry Fox, Team Leader of PROKAS, British Council Bangladesh, and Nazmul Ahsan, Manager of Young People, ActionAid Bangladesh, were the guests of honor. More than 100 young climate activists from throughout the country passionately engaged in the discussion. Rabab Fatima also brought up the intersectional impact of climate change on different communities, livelihoods, and gender identities while discussing the seriousness of the climate problem.
More than 100 young climate activists from throughout the country enthusiastically participated in the webinar.
She urged the young climate activists attending from all around Bangladesh to think globally and act locally, as the topic of Youth Day 2021 is “Transforming Food Systems: Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health.” She also praised Bangladeshi youth-led actions and environmental concerns, urging them to keep doing the good work for the causes that young people care about. Bangladeshi teenagers, she believes, are performing exceptional work.
praising the climate action of Bangladeshi youth “Our climate is for the long haul. You are the generation of the future. As a result, we declare that we wish to conserve our world for you, the next generation, out of a sense of obligation. We have a sense of obligation.”
She praised the young activists for their climate justice questions, as well as their knowledge and commitment to achieving climate justice around the world.
The session’s moderator, Sohanur Rahman, coordinator of YouthNet for Climate Justice and a founding member of the Fridays For Future movement, spoke about the importance of climate justice topics like climate finance in their work with politicians. Sohanur Rahman, speaking on behalf of the youth climate activists, gave a PowerPoint presentation explaining why adolescents’ voices should be heard and how their demands, efforts, and accomplishments should be included in the fight for global climate justice.
The ambassador praised the cleanup efforts of YouthNet’s young people on Cox’s Bazar’s sea beach and urged the youths to raise awareness about the need of keeping the world’s largest sea beach free of tourists and marine pollution. She suggested that youths work to make their communities more climate-sensitive and contribute to climate protection.
She referred to the teenagers as “Climate Ambassadors” and told them to submit her their recommendations and demands. She will make every effort to hear our voices and ensure that they are heard in various high-level conversations on her behalf. She also advised the teenagers to improve their communication skills and English language ability in order for their views to be heard by the rest of the world. Using Greta Thunberg as an example, she boasts that she is Swedish and that her mother language is likewise Swedish. Nonetheless, she speaks in English whenever she discusses the worldwide climate for better communication.
