Climate activist Nakate urges rich countries to cancel debt, grant climate finance at Paris summit
CTV
Facing an audience packed with world leaders and finance officials in suits, Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate silenced the room, then made everyone listen to some uncomfortable facts.
Facing an audience packed with world leaders and finance officials in suits, Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate silenced the room, then made everyone listen to some uncomfortable facts.
Speaking at a two-day summit aimed at seeking better responses to tackle poverty and climate change issues by reshaping the global financial system, the UNICEF ambassador and campaigner was in a somber mood and asked for a moment of silence.
Dressed in black with the slogan "Divest Now" on her T-shirt, Nakate said the silence was for "people around the world who are already suffering, starving, being displaced, jumping out of school, being forced into child marriages, losing their cultures and history, those who are already helpless, hopeless and dying due to the devastating impact of the climate crisis."
Speaking right after French President Emmanuel Macron, who hosted the summit, Nakate then urged delegates to put people first instead of profits, to make polluters pay, to cancel debt and direct climate finance toward the most vulnerable countries that did not create the climate crisis, while making sure fossil fuels are not part of their development.
"You must be thinking in trillions, not billions," she said, punctuating her speech with many depressing statistics about pollution and the world's growing inequalities between the rich, and the have nots.
Macron called for massive investment for developing countries in his address, saying that no country should have to choose between "reducing poverty or protecting the planet."
The summit is bringing together more than 50 heads of state, world finance officials and activists. They will discuss ways of reforming the global financial system and address the debt, climate change, and poverty crises.
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