Climate activist in Egypt for UN COP27 Climate Change Summit Crucial to deliver climate justice : Licypriya

CAIRO, Nov 6
Eleven year old child climate and environmental activist Licypriya Kangujam has arrived in Sharm El Sheikh City, Egypt to attend the United Nations COP27 Climate Change Summit, which starts today.
Egypt is hosting the UN Climate Change Summit, also known as COP27 from November 6 to 18. COP27 represents the world’s last best chance to limit global warming to 1.5°C, turn the Paris commitments into action, and help build a sustainable future for all.
Licypriya will be speaking in 3 different sessions as an observer and speaker.
This is the second time Licypriya is attending such a high-level UN event. She had attended the COP25 held in 2019 in Madrid, Spain. Last year, she missed Glasgow summit (COP26) due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
Licypriya said this year’s COP27 Climate Summit is very crucial to deliver climate justice for the millions of poor and vulnerable people of the global south who are already the victims of climate change.
She said, “Children are dying due to war in Ukraine. Children are dying due to air pollution and heatwaves crisis in India. Children are dying due to flash floods in Pakistan. Children are dying due to starvation in Ethiopia. Girl children are out of school to fetch water from long distances in Africa. Sacrificing the lives of millions of children for the failures of our leaders is unacceptable at any cost.
“Instead of spending billions of dollars in wars, if we spent it on ending poverty, giving education and fighting climate change, what a great place our Earth would be,” she said.
40% of insect’s population has gone, 70% of the wildlife species has gone, 69% of forest has gone, 40% of the Himalayan glaciers have gone. “If we don’t know how to fix it then please stop breaking it,” she said.
In the COP27, she said, “I am going to demand that our world leaders give us clean air to breathe, clean water to drink and clean planet to live on. I will also urge the leaders to make climate education mandatory in all school education curriculum. There will be no climate solution without climate education. COP27 is our last hope. They [world leaders] have already failed us 26 times in the last 26 COPs but this time we don’t want them to fail again. For us, COP27 will decide life or death.”
Responding to a question posed by the media, she said, Governments must work together to manage a just transition away from coal, oil and gas, which are the top causes of the climate crisis. This is the right time to sign a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty to secure our safe future and a safe equitable planet.
Rich and developed countries must deliver concrete climate actions on losses and damages caused by the climate crisis in developing countries. There will be no climate justice without climate finance, she said.
More than 45,000 registered COP27 participants and over 120 heads of States and Governments are attending the summit. US President Joe Biden, UK PM Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Brazilian President Elect Lula de Silva among other world leaders are attending.
Indian delegation will be led by Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, who arrived in Egypt on Saturday. India will seek clarity on the definition of climate finance and ask developed countries to enhance supply of technology and finance needed to address climate change and resulting disasters.
It may be noted that Licypriya is one of the leading voices for climate change in the world. She hails from Manipur, India. Recently, she attended the United Nations General Assembly 2022 in New York, USA.