Image courtesy ChildrenvsClimateCrisis
13-year-old Catarina Lorenzo is a climate activist from Salvador, Brazil, in the northeastern state of Bahia. She is one of 16 children from across the globe who are petitioning the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. The petition seeks to hold five of the world’s leading economic powers accountable for inaction on the climate crisis. Specifically, the petition alleges that Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, and Turkey have failed to fulfill their Paris Agreement pledges.
In her bio on #ChildrenVsClimateCrisis, she says that she has spent a lot of time on Brazil’s beaches and has seen firsthand the damage that climate change is doing in her community. “[Catarina] has experienced a much drier climate due to a lack of rain, which exacerbates forest fires and causes water shortages. The water shortages come without warning from the local government and can last for a day or two.”
Catarina is a fierce advocate for action on climate change and is helping to make the world a better place for current and future generations. We need young people like her to help keep up pressure on world leaders to act on climate change before it becomes too late.