- Alfred Fornah/Alhassan Sesay
SIERRA LEONE YOUTH JOIN WORLD-WIDE STRIKE FOR CLIMATE
Friday saw school children from across Sierra Leone's Western district converge on Waterloo District Council joining children in global climate protest and to speak truth to power. The Friday for Future event marks the first time Sierra Leone joins world-wide school strikes for climate, an international movement demonstrating to demand action to prevent further global warming.
Over 90 pupils, teachers and volunteers from marched on council offices with an amazing array of art bearing powerful climate action messages of support for our planet.
The pupils came from across Western Rural district; ten schools taking part in our innovative schools programme nurturing this next generation of environmental champions - Joy, REC, May Ford, Kellys Rural Secondary Schools, FTC Practising School, Jui and Portee Vocational Institutes and Edest Academy, and Rising Academy.
Alhassan Sesay, Founder of the Sierra Leone School Green Club and organizer of the successful event, explained how fossil fuels are one of the major factors contributing to global warming accounting for a third of all human emissions.
Speaking to the assembled crowd pupils set out their case against deforestation and fossil fuels and for renewable energy and Ruth from FTC Practicing School said:
"We want climate justice - Climate change is affecting our lives and we must all do something to stop it. So we call on the Government to invest in renewable energy to save our planet."
Passionate speeches from girls and youth demonstrates this coming generation understand well the dangers of climate change and the nature of the emergency that faces the world and Sierra Leone in particular as we are the third most vulnerable nation to dangerous climate change impacts with more than a third of our population at risk.
The children's impassioned pleas yielded immediate results with Councillor Mamudu A Dumbuya, speaking on behalf of the District Council committed to treat environmental issues with the seriousness they deserves and promising:
"We will tackle environmental issues - including deforestation - head on and we will not waver."
The event was collaboratively developed by School Green Club Sierra Leone, Society 4 Climate Change Communications, 350.org, Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), Citizens Climate Lobby Africa and the Mother Earth project.
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