Licypriya Kangujam
Climate Activist and Founder, The Child Movement & Special Envoy of the President of Timor Leste
Licypriya Kangujam
Climate Activist and Founder, The Child Movement & Special Envoy of the President of Timor LesteLicypriya is an eleven-year-old Indian climate activist. She has been championing her cause since being six-years-old to protect, preserve and nurture our environment by fighting climate change. She is one of the youngest climate activists globally and addressed the world leaders in the United Nations Climate Conference 2019 (COP25) in Madrid, Spain calling the world leaders to take immediate climate actions to save our planet and their future. She is an outspoken young leader inspiring millions of people around the world and one of the leading voices for climate change globally. She is also a Guinness World Record Holder for cleaning our planet. She transformed iconic Taj Mahal into a plastic pollution free monument in June 2022. Delhi University made it compulsory to plant minimum one tree every year by each student to pass their final examination, one of her long pending demands to the Government. From zero to thousands of schools in India now study climate education in their schools after her request. After she spent a week protesting against the Delhi air pollution crisis, the President of India signed an ordinance to enact a new law to curb the air pollution crisis in Delhi on 28th October 2020. She opened a “Plastic Money Shop” in Delhi where people can bring single used plastic waste from home and can take free rice or stationery items or a sapling from her shop with the mission to eliminate single use plastic waste from our planet and it stops single used plastic waste from reaching lakes, rivers, and oceans. She launched an initiative called Monday for Mother Nature in 2020 where she plants trees every week with the school children on every Monday with the mission to plant one million trees every year. She was praised by United Nations Secretary General Mr. Antonio Guterres as “8-year-old Licypriya is the reminder of the world’s obligations towards future generations” in 2019. She attended the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly 2022. She spoke in over 400 institutions and other platforms in over 32 countries advocating adults about the threat of climate change as a part of her movement. She currently works as the Special Envoy of the President of Timor Leste and also as the Climate Advisor of Child Rights International Network (CRIN), London.