THE Global Climate Strike March on climate revolution held at the New York’s Lower Manhattan this week has been described by Fiji’s young climate change activist AnnMary Raduva as a climate change revolution.
Ms Raduva joined 40,000 demonstrators during the march who paraded from Foley Square and the streets around City Hall to a packed Battery Park climate change rally.
“I don’t want to keep quiet anymore,” the 15-year-old Year 10 student of Adi Cakobau School said.
“I want to drown fighting if I need to, and I want the world to know that even if I’m standing on the last islet in the vast Pacific Ocean, I drowned fighting a good fight.
“I am part of the generation who may be the best hope for the cause of slowing the impacts of climate change and preserving what is left for our own survival!
“I am hopeful and empowered that my generation is very bold and will not stop lobbying for a safe and sustainable future for us. Today’s seven-kilometre walk for me is not a big deal,” the 15-year-old
AnnMary described the march as a historical one, saying it was an emotional event joining other students calling for climate justice and action.
She even hopes to organise a similar march in Suva later in the year for young children in her island home.
“I also hope that we, the younger generation fighting for climate crisis, will be given an opportunity to host a similar awareness raising event in Suva in solidarity with what Greta Thunberg has started in Sweden, ” she said.
“People cheered when Greta was on the stage in the afternoon and she spoke so candidly about our future and our role as young activists and how we must influence our leaders and policymakers to turn their words into actions.
“I also met some local students who had studied climate change and Fiji’s COP 23 contribution to climate negotiations and meetings.
“One of the highlights of the march was having the Fiji flag with me. There were a couple of curious onlookers but it was what I wanted, to create visibility and to show our solidarity.
“Climate issues don’t discriminate – it affects all of us. I am very grateful to be here in New York and I hope to learn as much as I can and to create my network of young activists so we can always bounce off ideas and awareness raising collaboration that can help us understand climate justice better.”
AnnMary was invited to New York by the Center for Environmental Legal Studies of the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University in New York, in conjunction with the Normandie Chair for Peace and the University of Caen in France and the William S Richardson Law School of the University of Hawaii.
She is originally from Viwa, Bau in Tailevu, and has maternal links to Malha’a Village in Rotuma.
