‘Climate champion’ fights to highlight South Sudan’s plight

Naomi Momone says she has never heard of Greta Thunberg or the Fridays for Future movement, but she certainly knows about climate change.

The South Sudanese 14-year-old was one of two students representing South Sudan at Cop 28 in Dubai last year, an opportunity she came to through her involvement in a “child parliament” organised by international humanitarian organisation Save the Children. During an interview in South Sudan’s capital city Juba, Momone called climate change “the biggest issue we are facing as children”.

“The reason why I decided to be passionate about climate change is there are very many children in South Sudan who are affected,” she said. The landlocked east African country of roughly 11 million people has been called “one of the five most climate-vulnerable countries in the world” by the United Nations.

In March came a stark example of what Momone is talking about. as South Sudan’s education and health ministries called for schools to be closed for weeks amid an extreme heatwave, with daily temperatures rising above 40 degrees.

Even David Attenborourgh couldn’t save the Tories now

---

‘We’re police – it’s simply our job’: Ukraine’s ‘White Angels’ help people flee Russia’s advance

---

‘The house fell down on their heads’: Gazan falafel seller in southwest London with a tale to tell

---

“This month, particularly, it has really been bad,” she said. As many as one million people are also displaced by flooding in South Sudan each year. Momone said she is also sure the heatwave will affect farming, in a country where many people regularly go hungry. “Most of the families in South Sudan depend on the grazing of cattle and farming so this heatwave is going to affect them the most.”

Momone – who was wearing a T-shirt reading “climate champion” – said she first became interested in advocacy three years ago, when she joined Senior 1 (equivalent to third year in Ireland), and was given access to the internet.

She learned about climate change “through YouTube and social media”.

“I decided to check on our country, so when I did I found out that our country was one of those countries that were affected.”

[ South Sudan’s refugee crisis: ‘We’re missing our country, our place, our Ramadan’ ]

Her family are “neutral” about her activism, she said, but she happily speaks to “people at home about climate change”.

South Sudan, which has faced years of civil war, “is not that safe for protests but we advocate, we just talk slowly slowly, we believe that we’ll protest one day,” said Momone.

She believes children need to be included in international summits where the climate is discussed, and that they can play a key role in finding solutions.

“We have to advocate for it, create awareness and tell people about climate change. For example, yesterday I went to the radio station ... and we spoke about how the heatwave is affecting children, so this is another way of advocacy.”

She also wants to see “platforms where children can engage with other children in the world and know what they’re facing due to climate change. What do they think should be done?”

She would like to see more funds raised for “the countries that are not causing climate change, they have to give more money especially for the children because there is no future without the children and the people of those countries”.

Africa has about 17 per cent of the world’s population but contributes roughly four per cent of global emissions. A loss and damage fund, which would see the wealthy countries most responsible giving financial support to developing countries dealing with its consequences, was agreed at Cop 28 last year, but pledges are falling far short of the estimated amounts needed.

• Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
• Find The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
• Our In The News podcast is now published daily – Find the latest episode here