Meet the teenage 'changemakers' at World Economic Forum in Davos

Swiss town Davos will host many climate activists this week. Many of them are teenagers who are trying to change the world to make it a better place to live.

Here is a list of these young climate activists:

In 2018, she began protesting outside the Swedish parliament during school hours with a sign painted with the words,“School Strike for Climate”.

Greta, 17, has continued to strike every Friday, inspiring hundreds of thousands of children worldwide to follow her example.

(Image courtesy: World Economic Forum/Sandra Blaser)

Peltier has been “water warrior” since the age of 8 ever since she learned about First Nation communities that couldn’t drink their water due to contamination from industrial activity and oil pipelines.

In 2019, Autumn was named the Chief Water Commissioner by the Anishinabek Nation, representing 40 First Nations in Ontario, many of whom lack clean drinking water. 

(Image courtesy: World Economic Forum/Sandra Blaser)

When Hurricane María devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, Salvador, 17, created the “Light and Hope for Puerto Rico” campaign to distribute solar-powered lamps, hand-powered washing machines and other supplies to more than 3,100 families on the island.

He continues to support the implementation of smart energy systems in Puerto Rico and has launched the “Light and Hope for the Bahamas” humanitarian initiative.

He was named one of TIME Magazine’s 30 Most Influential Teens of 2017 and received the President’s Environmental Youth Award from the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Diana Award for social humanitarian work in 2019.

(Image courtesy: World Economic Forum/Sandra Blaser)

Mwansa, 18, is from Zambia where she gathers and shares information on women and girls’ rights and tracks stakeholder progress through her roles as junior reporter and journalist and as social accountability monitor in various health organizations.

She also founded the Natasha Mwansa Foundation to promote a world in which young people are heard, valued, and healthy.

Through her work, she was selected to be part of the African Union Commission’s Youth Advisory Board and became the youngest recipient of the World Health Organization’s Global Health Leaders Award.

(Image courtesy: World Economic Forum/Sandra Blaser)

 

Ayakha,17, is mobilizing support for low-carbon development and a just energy transition in her country as part of the African Climate Alliance and the Project 90 by 2030 initiative.

In 2019, Ayakha and 15 other children around the world submitted a petition to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to hold five of the world’s leading economic powers accountable for inaction on the climate crisis.

(Image courtesy: World Economic Forum official website)

Ferreira,18, invented a new method of extracting microplastics from the water using his own version of ferrofluid, a liquid developed by NASA when he was in high school.

Fionn introduced the concept at the 2019 Google Science Fair, where he won the competition for his methodology to remove microplastics from water.

(Image courtesy: World Economic Forum official website)

Melati,19 founded “Bye Bye Plastic Bags” with her younger sister to organize petitions, awareness-raising campaigns and massive beach clean-ups. 

Soon after that Bali announced a law banning single-use plastic, thanks in part to Melati’s efforts.

Melati and her sister were part of TIME Magazine’s Most Influential Teens and CNN’s Young Wonders in 2018.

(Image courtesy: World Economic Forum official website)

Along with his family, 12-year old Mohamad built a school in a refugee camp where 200 children now access their right to an education.

Now at the age of 18, he helps children to heal, learn and have fun with games and photography.

Mohamad was awarded the International Children’s Peace Prize in 2017 and MTV’s Generation Change Award in 2018.

(Image courtesy: World Economic Forum official website)

Wadler,13, led a walk-out at her elementary school in Virginia to mark the one-month anniversary of the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman High School in Parkland, Florida.

Her walk-out was 18 minutes long, 17 minutes for each student and teacher who lost their lives, and another minute for Courtlin Arrington, an African American student who was murdered shortly after the Parkland shooting in her Alabama high school.

(Image courtesy: World Economic Forum official website)

Erdmann, 14, Cruz has dived 160 times in waterbodies since the age of 10 and has been shooting underwater photographs since he was 12.

In 2019, Cruz’s nighttime photograph of a Bigfin reef squid won him the prestigious title of Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year by London’s Natural History.

(Image courtesy: World Economic Forum official website)