I hope world leaders will listen to young people and children and take their suggestions into consideration
By Ahang Habib in Dubai, UAE
I hope world leaders will listen to young people and children and take their suggestions into consideration
By Ahang Habib in Dubai, UAE
“It is time for big actions to confront climate change. The alarm has sounded for our planet. We, the youth of Iraq, fear that we will be forced to migrate our lands and homes,” said Hella Jalal, a 22-years-old Kurdish environmentalist from Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan Region IKR, during her participation in the activities of the Climate Change Summit in Dubai, UAE COP28, in order to convey to world leaders, the concerns of Iraqi youth about effects of climate challenge and global warming.
Despite her young age, her environmental activities in Iraq led to her invitation to participate in the activities of the COP28. As one of the spokeswoman for World Vision International, Hella addressed the effects of climate change in her speech to young people from participating countries.
On December 5, Hella participated, as an environmental activist, in a discussion session entitled (Youth Leadership and Adaptation to Climate Change).
Hella briefed the attendants about the beginning of her work in the field of the environment and what made her take on the concerns of the environment and youth. She told her story to the audience, “My story is linked to the story of my family, which was clearly affected by climate change... We had an orchard in the area where we live, and we felt the effects of climate change when water sources became scarce and we no longer had water to irrigate our orchard.”
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“We had to buy water to irrigate the trees so that they would not dry out... This method, in addition to its financial cost, led to an increase in the emission of harmful gases, because we needed to transport the water in large mobile tanks that emit a large amount of carbon dioxide into the air.”
“There is nothing left of that large orchard now. Other than a pomegranate tree and an olive tree. My family, especially my father, felt great sadness because of what happened to our orchard,” she added.
“We felt as if we had lost a member of our family. What happened with my family is a story that was repeated with many farmers and other Iraqi families due to the high temperature rates, dust and sand storms and drying up of water sources.”
This story encouraged Hella to work as an environmental activist and take on the concerns of young people and children who are victims of climate change.
It's time for big action to confront the effects of climate change, because the alarm has sounded for our planet
Hella Jalal graduated from Salahaddin University in Erbil. Since she was a university student, she has emerged as an activist in the field of the environment and has organized many events with the aim of reducing the use of plastic, cleaning the college from plastic waste and recycling it, in addition to publishing awareness posters in order to reduce the use of plastic and its effects on natural environment.
She currently works as the Director of the Projects Department at the Xiao Organization in the IKR. The NGO helps young people with special needs through its projects, some of which are related to confronting the effects of climate change.
“At the Climate Change Summit, I wanted to speak on behalf of children and young people whose families, like mine, are affected by climate change,” she added. “I hope that world leaders will listen to young people and children and take their suggestions into consideration as they formulate the roadmap to combat the effects of climate change.”
Hella pointed out that "the time has come for big actions to confront the effects of climate change, because the alarm has sounded for our planet."
At the COP289, which lasted for about two weeks, Hella met with officials from a number of countries, including the United States of America USA, and the United Kingdom UK, and spoke to them about giving the role of youth in discussions on formulating a road map to confront climate change, “because the current generation of young people is the most affected by climate change, so it must to be part of the decision-making process on the national, regional and global scale.”
Although she believes that women are at the forefront of the groups exposed to the effects of climate change, Hella says that “working on the issue of confronting the effects of climate change is everyone’s duty, but many researches show that women are more vulnerable to the risks of climate change. For example, climate change affects the situation and the livelihood of families leads to a deterioration in their financial situation. As a result, cases of abortion, early marriage of girls, and (domestic) violence against women increase. Therefore, women's voices must be strong and heard when it comes to the issue of climate change."
According to a poll conducted by World Vision International, 99% of the world's children and youth felt that temperatures were rising and more than 85% of them felt that water sources were drying up.
Hella concludes her speech with a message to world leaders: “It is time for big action to confront climate change, because the alarm has sounded for our planet.”
