At
an age where many of his peers aspire to get the latest sneakers or
video games, Ali Shahbaz had his eyes on a much larger prize:
attending Rio+20, the biggest conference in the history of the
United Nations with over 45,000 participants. The United Nations
Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) took pl ace in June and
from the moment he found out about it at the start of the year, the
then 15-year-old Pakistani began a relentless campaign to convince
his government’s leaders that his generation needed to
be represented. Ali spent several hours a day, every day, emailing
officials and anyone who would listen.
It
worked: in May, the Lahore-based teen was invited to represent
the country’s youth at the National Consultation on Green Economy
in Islamabad, where he gave a presentation. “I said it was their
obligation to include a youth delegate because the next UNCSD
conference, the Stockholm+40, is not going to happen for another 20
years, so we need to start awareness at this point.
“They
were also convinced because they thought a 15-year-old could
only play soccer and be at school but there I was,” says Ali, who is
now 16.
His
impassioned speech, which can be viewed on YouTube, had the desired effect
and with just two weeks to go before the June 20 convention, Ali got
word that he was going to Rio de Janeiro. The Sustainable Development
Policy Institute ( SDPI ) announced Ali as its youth ambassador.
At
the time, SDPI executive director Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri said he
hoped Ali’s representation at Rio+20 would help to flag a positive
image of Pakistan, its youth and its potential to the world community – a
huge responsibility to place on such young shoulders.
But
it quickly became obvious the high school student, who had to
juggle his environmental activism with his GCE O-level examinations,
was more than up to the task. The outspoken teen already has very
clear ideas on what his country needs in order to make progress on
green issues.
“Half
of the world’s population is under the age of 25 and when they
are not involved in the decision-making process, they are not aware
of what is taking place,” he says. “Once we provi de environmental
education, [the youth] will become more aware of the issues that we
are facing, such as climate change and biodiversity. Once t hey have
sound awareness, they will be able to think critically and come up
with viable solutions," Ali says, emphatically.
Ali’s
father is an engineer at the natural gas resource headquarters
and his mother teaches deaf students at a special school. They’re
both sup- portive of his passion but also keep a close eye on him.
“They check up on me, what am I doing, how am I doing it and is it
the right way?” he says. He also has two younger siblings.
So
what did he learn during the conference? Well, for one, an event
touting sustainable development may not itself be very
environmentally friendly. “I was stunned to see that it had a huge
carbon footprint – it was fully air-conditioned and we used polystyrene
and plastic cups,” Ali says. Another example: at such conferences
involving political elements, there is room for huge clashes.
“I
learned you have to be diplomatic, very precise and straightforward,
but then also sugarcoat your words and crosscheck that they don’t
harm the progress of other people on your side.”
The
great part about all the publicity he received from being the first youth
representative in the Pakistani delegation, as well as the
youngest participant at Rio+20, is that people in government and the
NGO sector now know him and pick up his calls. “I now have more
allies, support, recognition, and resources, and can work more
effectively,” Ali says.
At
press time, he was raising funds to attend UNFCCC COP18, an
annual conference on climate change that took place in Qatar earlier
this month. “You can’t stop after attending one event . One thing the
government hasn’ t realised is that they haven’ t made the youth a
priority as yet. They don’t have a youth action plan. This is something
I need to work on.”
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