Youth advocates face threats on the front line of climate change
Intimidation by state actors in the Global South has not diminished young environmental advocates’ vigor, despite threats to their lives
By Eleonore Hughes / AFP, PARIS
Just weeks after Philippine security forces allegedly killed her friend and fellow human rights defender Melvin Dasigao and eight other campaigners, environmental advocate Mitzi Jonelle Tan was back on the streets protesting.
“Stop funding our destruction,” the 23-year-old shouted outside a branch office of British bank Standard Chartered at a demonstration against the financing of coal plants in Manila last month.
As critical UN climate negotiations loom, young advocates from countries already feeling the effects of the accelerating destruction of nature are rising above the challenges of living in remote areas — and even threats to their lives — to sound the alarm.