“If only privileged voices are heard, measures remain one-sided” | D+C - Development + Cooperation

I started organising Fridays for Future demonstrations in my hometown of Mombasa, Kenya in 2019. At some point, I wondered how I could do more to protect our climate. Eventually, I realised how important but threatened our mangrove forests are. These shallow-rooting trees only grow in warm salt water along the coast. Their ecosystems have great potential for climate protection as they store around 10 times more CO2 than ordinary forests. But they are under threat; they are being cut down for timber or infrastructure projects such as road construction and are suffering in general from biodiversity loss.

So, with a handful of other women, I wanted to take a stand against this and ultimately founded the “Blue Earth Organization”. We work primarily on the regeneration of mangrove forests to benefit not only the environment and climate, but also people in the local coastal communities. We want to empower all people, especially women, to use mangrove forests as a sustainable resource. That’s how mangrove protection strengthens coastal communities both socially and economically.

What was your experience at the UN mid-term conference in Bonn?

I have already been to several climate conferences, and this time I was once again disappointed by the lack of determination. For years, we have been calling for more climate financing, real support and to finally implement the “loss and damage” mechanism. This refers to the agreed loss and damage fund, which was created to provide financial support to countries and vulnerable communities that are or will be particularly affected by extreme weather, rising sea levels and other climate-related disasters. Although it was established at COP27 in 2022, there is still disagreement about how it should be implemented and financed.