Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation (KSCF) and Let Me Breathe (LMB), in cooperation with the Nobel Peace Center, brought two young India voices at the OSLO PAX Conference 2019, which was held on September 4th and 5th.
Ajay Prakash, 15, and Aman Sharma, 16 were selected to address the Oslo Pax, a new annual peace and climate conference organized by Nobel Peace Center at the Norwegian capital to draw up a set of recommendations for the UN’s Climate Action Summit later in September 2019. The Oslo Pax final communique will be presented to UN Secretary-General, AntónioGuterres, during the Climate Action Summit on September 23.
Speaking on the occasion, an elated Ajay said, “I feel it was a great opportunity for me to share my thoughts on the immediate need to take corrective measures to preserve nature and ensure environmental conservation, globally. “
Ajay Prakash, now a student of Class IX, is a former child labour who climbed up the education ladder following his grooming at the Bal Ashram a long term rehabilitation centre founded by Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi near Jaipur in Rajasthan. Ajay hails from Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh and is a son of a driver, who struggled to take care of his family.
“I think it’s really nice that I got access to such a big forum from where, I raised my concerns on environment degradation, globally. It was an opportunity to spread the movement that we’ve been leading in India and around the world, while joining forces with global young leaders,” says, Aman Sharma, an avid wildlife photographer, on the opportunity to speak at the Oslo Pax through video-conferencing from New Delhi. His works have featured on National Geographic’s website, and his petition on change.org, supported by many Bollywood and Hollywood stars, for India to declare a National Climate Emergency, garnered over 220,000 signatures.
Tamseel Hussain, Co-Founder of Let Me Breathe, an organization which documents studies of climate change says, “We are glad to work in cooperation with the Nobel Peace Centre and Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation to help young students, who have been at the forefront of climate activism in India, to voice their concerns on the rampant exploitation of nature.”
“KSCF and Let Me Breathe (LMB) in cooperation with the Nobel Peace Center are bringing the youngest voices from India at Oslo Pax 2019. We are proud of Ajay Prakash, who is participating concern on the pertinent issue of climate change” said Bidhan Chandra Singh, Executive Director, KSCF.
The Oslo Pax conference has been chaired by Christiana Figueres, a former UN diplomat who was a driving force behind the Paris Agreement of 2015. In Oslo, she met young activists, political leaders and experts in a variety of fields.
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