Today, even though girls and women are underrepresented in both STEM careers and in governmental leadership roles, there are millions of women who are using their education to help address climate change, climate justice and the world’s transition to a clean energy economy. Many of them have had to overcome major barriers to get their education and nearly all of them have had to face gender discrimination, but they are leading the way in policy, activism, local solutions and technology. In Heroes of Hope, Idara talks about her admiration for Queen Amina, known as the first woman leader in a male-dominated world in the 16th century. Idara goes on to be a leader herself. Today, women leaders in climate change are helping to create a fairer and more sustainable world for everyone. Meet some of these leaders here.
Adenike Oladosu
Nigerian Climate Activist, Founder of I Lead Climate
Adenike Oladosu is a Nigerian climate activist, journalist, and founder of I Lead Climate, a youth-led movement raising awareness about climate change induced conflict, such as the violence and terrorism that climate change impacts have ignited in her country. She has seen firsthand how drought and the reduction of Lake Chad has caused conflicts between farmers and herdsman. Those clashes disrupted her education, but they also ignited her passion for acting as a climate leader. Adenike organized a massive school strike for climate change in Nigeria, and also launched the #ActOnLakeChad campaign to create and disseminate stories and photographs of climate change impacts on Lake Chad. She has showcased her climate action at international conferences including the UN Climate Change Conference, World Economic Forum and Elevate Festival.
Hilda Flavia Nakabuye
Ugandan Climate Justice Activist, Founder of Fridays for Future Movement
Hilda Flavia Nakabuye is a Future Rising Fellow, from Uganda. She is a climate justice activist and founder of Uganda’s Fridays for Future movement. She has been active in conservation efforts for Lake Victoria, which like Lake Chad, is steadily drying up and causing tremendous hard to the fishing economy. Hilda regularly organizes groups to help clean up Lake Victoria and carry out conservation projects. She has spoken at major climate change conferences around the world including COP27 and the UN Right Here Right Now conference.
Mercy Wanjiku Kamonjo
Kenyan Food Security Activist, Founder of Kuza Generation Initiative
Mercy Wanjiku Kamonjo is a Future Rising Fellow from Kenya, student at Kenyatta College and founder of Kuza Generation Initiative. The Kuza Generation Initiative is a youth-led non-profit that empowers rural communities that have been impacted by climate change to advocate for their rights, forecast threats and adapt to changing weather patterns. Mercy is an environmentalist and food security activist who is working on a film about a group of women in a rural community and their efforts to build food security despite a worsening drought.
Prime Minister Mia Mottley, Barbado
Global Champion for Climate Justice
Mia Mottley is a lawyer and politician who has been serving as Prime Minister of Barbados since 2018. She is the first woman to hold this position the first person to hold this position since Barbados abolished its constitutional monarchy and was established as a republican system. Barbados is among the world's many low-lying island nations and the Alliance of Small Nation States that are extremely vulnerable to rising sea levels due to climate change. Prime Minister Mottley led the convening of policy makers and civil society organizations for the Bridgetown Agenda that create a proposed set of solutions for reforms to international finance institutions in connection to addressing the costs of climate change disasters. In November 2022, the UN awarded Prime Minister Mottley with an annual Global Leadership Award, honoring her as "Champion for Global Change" in recognition of "her exemplary leadership in fighting for a just, equitable, and sustainable world".
Nadège Nzoyem, Cameroon
Leader in community-based forest conservation
Nadege Nzoyem is a forest and wildlife scientist who focuses on community approaches and strategies for sustainable livelihoods that are based on forest conservation practices. Forest conservation is crucial for managing climate change both for the forests' abilities to store carbon but also for their ability to mitigate the impacts of flooding or sustained drought. Nadege is an advocate for women-led conservation practices, based on her experiences with the vital role that women play in managing natural resources and food production. A goal of her community conservation project in Cameroon's Mount Bamboutos region is to ensure that women are able to participate in and lead local landscape management boards, which promote environmentally sustainable activities.
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