Cape Town - A South African teenager known for advocating a low-carbon footprint in her community and a Kenyan environmental activist will feature at this year's World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
The meeting starts on Tuesday and 17-year-old Ayakha Melithafa, from the Western Cape's Eerste River, who also pushes for the inclusion of diverse voices in climate activism will be one the delegates.
Last year, Melithafa took part in the United Nations high level talks on climate after Swedish climate activist Greta Thunburg led the youths.
The annual meeting has been touted as being more "action-orientated" in 2020, with the aim of achieving "systemic change to return the planet to a sustainable path".
Kenya's Wanjuhi Njoroge founded #SaveOurForestsKE, a campaign that raises awareness about the decimation of forests. It led to a nine-month ban on national forest logging in the country. At the same UN meeting last year, Njoroge told leaders that it was the youth who led climate initiatives.
Taking place under the theme Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World, this year’s WEF meeting would feature a wider array of "climate heroes" than ever before, according to organisers.
The gathering brings together nearly 3,000 global leaders from politics, government, civil society, academia, the arts and culture as well as the media. - African News Agency