Activists want firm action from world leaders in fight for climate justice

Climate activists under their umbrella group, Fridays for Future - Uganda, have protested against the continued empty promises from world leaders in the fight against climate change.

They said that it is time for leaders to take decisive steps to combat the climate crisis that threatens the future of young people around the world.

The Fridays for Future - Uganda activists climate strike was held in Kansanga on Friday.

Speaking to Nile Post, Hilda Flavia Nakabuye, the founder of Fridays for Future - Uganda said world leaders must not just use climate change as a PR strategy, but work towards saving the future of the planet through concrete policies.

"For instance introduction of climate change studies in the school curriculum, implementation of environmental laws, an environmental court to handle environmental issues, doing their best to save and preserve our natural resources and reaching the goals of the Paris agreement which Uganda also signed in 2015 among others," she said.

Nakabuye said that they also want Standard Chartered Bank to stop funding fossil fuel companies around the world because this is an abuse of environmental and human rights. She said that the bank can instead invest in renewable energy and green technologies.

"This is a global campaign, we are striking in solidarity with fellow Activists in the Philippines who are facing serious challenges caused by Standard Chartered Bank funding coal mines, being that we have branches here of Standard Chartered Bank, that's why we added our voices," she said.

Fridays for Future is a movement that began in August 2018, after 15-year-old Greta Thunberg and other young activists sat in front of the Swedish parliament every school day for three weeks, to protest against the lack of action on the climate crisis. She posted what she was doing on Instagram and Twitter and it soon went viral.

Currently, the Fridays for Future movement has presence in more than 60 countries.