By Ahmad
Muto
Ugandan
Climate activist Vanessa Nakate has been named as one of the 100 most
influential people in the world by TIME magazine’s 2021 TIME100 Next list.
Nakate attended
the World Economic Forum press conference in Davos over a year ago alongside
other activists in Europe. However, she rose to prominence after she got
cropped out of a photo with the three other European activists with Greta
Thurnberg being one of them.
According
to her excerpt for the selection written by fellow activist Thurberg, cropping
Nakate out of the photo was tantamount to erasing a whole continent.
“A year
ago, Ugandan climate activist Vanessa
Nakate joined me and three other European activists at a press
conference in Davos. We were there to hold the leaders gathered at the World Economic Forum accountable
for their continued lack of action on the climate crisis. At the press
conference, an Associated Press photographer took a photo of all five of us—but
Vanessa was cropped out of the final picture. Vanessa told the U.S. news
agency: ‘You didn’t just erase a photo. You erased a continent.’ But Vanessa
refused to be cut out of the conversation,” she wrote.
She added
that Africa has given less attention to climate despite being the most exposed
region as a result of rising emissions.
“Africa is
the most-exposed region to the adverse effects of the climate crisis despite
contributing the least to rising emissions, and Vanessa continues to help lead
the fight for climate justice. With her mantra, “We cannot eat coal. We cannot
drink oil,” Vanessa has become a powerful voice calling for an end to all
fossil-fuel investment across Africa. She started the Green Schools Project to
transition schools in Uganda to solar energy. She is also a champion for
educating and empowering girls and young women—the sixth most powerful climate
solution we have, according to the experts at Project Drawdown. In this moment
of intersecting crises—from COVID-19 to racial injustice, from ecological
problems to economic inequality—Vanessa continues to teach a most critical
lesson. She reminds us that while we may all be in the same storm, we are not
all in the same boat.”
The TIME100
Next list happens to be an expansion of the TIME100 franchise that recognizes
100 emerging leaders who are sharing the future of entertainment, health,
politics, business and more.
Twitter: @MUTOHD
