Kehkashan Basu, the Voice of Youth for Equality and Change

More and more young people belonging to the new generations have the leadership to be spokespersons worldwide, evidencing the need to continue advancing in programs that increase equality and care for the environment.

Addressing Environmental Problems

Kehkashan Basu, at 21, has been recognized as a world leader and influencer fighting for the environment, peace, and the rights of women and children. For her important work, she has been the recipient of important awards such as the International Children's Peace Prize in 2016 for her work on children's rights and the environment, and the first Voices Youth Gorbachev-Shultz Award Legacy for her work on nuclear disarmament.

Kehkashan Basu is an example of that call that many young people are making worldwide, to raise their voices to raise awareness in the world about the urgent need to save our planet and generate peace. For this young activist from the United Arab Emirates, the climate crisis and gender inequality are two of the most pressing issues of our time. The need to address these problems has been the engine that gave rise to Green Hope Foundation, a social innovation organization that promotes policies to create a just, equitable, peaceful, and nuclear-weapon-free world through education and empowerment of children and youth in sustainable development projects.

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For this young activist, climate change increases gender inequality and in an interview with El Ágora Radio, she affirmed "for women and girls living in communities affected by climate change, security represents a huge problem, as is the lack of access to clean water and sanitation, education and electricity in their villages. We have seen how many girls in Liberia have had to stop studying because they have to walk dozens of kilometers every day to get drinking water for their home." For this reason, Kehkashan has made work in favor of feminist climate justice one of her flags for action, in collaboration with governments and civil society itself.

Leader for Equality

Kehkashan Basu decided to become an active spokesperson for equality when she saw that there are many girls around the world who do not make the decision to dedicate themselves to science because they do not believe that they belong to that field (they still consider that knowledge is not for them but It is a space for men), a position that for this young activist is totally absurd because, in her opinion, the more girls are part of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) there will be more growth and innovation in industries and more benefits for communities. For this reason and in light of equality, more women and girls need to be encouraged to pursue STEM careers through positive role models and the success stories of other women.

"Today, the world population of young people amounts to almost two billion people. To ignore this large part of our world population would be to ignore the ideas, opinions, and suggestions of people who will soon be the ones who will carry out the policies," says Kehkashan Basu.