Qatar representatives Neeshad Shafi (right), Fatima Abuhaliqa (centre) with Italian eco-artist Luca Gnizio.
Qatar joined hundreds of delegates from across the world to participate in the Youth4Climate Summit in Milan recently. The gathering is a precursor to the UN COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland, set for November.
With the theme ‘Youth4Climate: Driving Ambition,’ the Summit saw 400 young people from the 197 member countries of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change engage in proposing policies to the COP26 attendees on major climate change issues and how to prevent and control them.
Neeshad Shafi, Executive Director of Arab Youth Climate Movement Qatar (AYCMQ), and Fatima Abuhaliqa, an electrical engineering student at Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ) and co-founder of Dawarha Qatar, a youth-led environmental initiative, represented Qatar at the Summit.
Speaking to The Peninsula, Shafi said the Milan meeting was an opportunity to table Qatar and the region’s climate concerns and how youth from the Middle East are involved in tackling the climate change phenomenon.
“It was indeed an opportunity to raise climate change issues and solution from the Arab Middle East perspective on an international summit,” Shafi said. As Qatar transitions from a nation dependent on hydrocarbons to one built on sustainability in all aspects, it becomes crucial to educate and transfer knowledge to the younger generation of this journey of development and growth.
“It was another great opportunity for AYCMQ to make its presence at this global Summit representing Qatar and showcase our credible grassroots work in Qatar once again. This also showcases Qatar’s belief in the youth’s role and representation for climate awareness, advocacy, and action. We also got to hear and learn from notable global climate activists like Greta Thunberg and Venessa Nakate, amongst others from all over the world, and to build solid partnerships to integrate new ideas and tools into the climate-related work back home.”
The final policy document includes eliminating fossil fuels, providing just transition funding, more backing for climate change education and other issues.
The Summit ended with the creation of a policy document presented to world leaders attending COP26.
