Young activists from across Africa are pushing developed nations to honour their pledge to channel $100 billion every year to underdeveloped nations to deal with the damage caused by climate change.

The promise, made 13 years ago at a United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen in Denmark, is yet to be honoured.

The youth, attending the ongoing United Nations Conference of Parties on Climate Change (CoP27) in Egypt, demand that the money should come in the form of grants and should reach affected communities.

This year’s conference has been billed the African CoP due to its location and its focus on working together for implementation of issues that mostly affect Africa and the developing world.

The youth during their protest in Egypt

In a press statement released on Tuesday, the youth bemoaned that African countries are dealing with the pain of loss and damage from climate change even though the continent did not significantly contribute to the carbon emissions causing the problem.

Bino Makhalanyane from the Green Anglicans movement in South Africa said the $100 billion bill promised to vulnerable countries is now overdue.

“There are a lot of young activists here and you can see the trauma in their eyes as they tell their stories. I believe it is wrong to force young people to become adults prematurely because of the negative experiences they have faced due to climate change,” he said.

Jessica Bwali, from Zambia and part of the Climate Yes Movement, asked wealthy nations to take full responsibility for their actions and pay the overdue money.

The activists are raising their voices in the hope that the experiences of communities directly affected by climate change will be taken into account by the official government negotiators.

Last week, more than 20 activists gathered to influence over 1 000 delegates from 44 countries attending the All Africa Youth Congress held in Ghana.

In 2019, rich nations promised to channel $100 billion a year to less wealthy nations by 2020, to help them adapt to climate change and mitigate further rises in temperatures.

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