Thirteen-year-old Uttarakhand-based climate activist Ridhima Pandey has featured in the BBC’s list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2020.
The list, according to the BBC website, highlights those who are leading change and making a difference during these turbulent times. Three other women from India—eighty-two-year-old Bilkis Bano, Manasi Joshi, Isaivani-have also featured in the list.
BBC describes Ridhima as “a climate activist who, at the age of nine filed a petition against the government of India in response to its inaction to mitigate climate change.”
Climate activist Ridhima Pandey, 12, from Haridwar in Uttarakhand has featured in the BBC’s list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for this year. The British broadcaster released the list on Tuesday, describing her as “a climate activist who, at the age of nine filed a petition against the government of India in response to its inaction to mitigate climate change”.
Had petitioned the UN
Ridhima along with Greta Thunberg and 14 other children from around the world had petitioned the United Nations on environmental issues plaguing the world.
Reacting to the news, Ridhima told BBC, “I am humbled and honoured. The world leaders should come together collectively to ensure environmental security for the next generations to come. We, as global citizens, should ask our governments and compel them to make changes to conserve and protect the environment.”
“This recognition will encourage me further to keep working and fighting for the cause of the environment and climate change, which are the most important issues the world is facing today and will face in the coming days,” she said.
Pandey, who lives in Haridwar, said this recognition will also inspire other youngsters, especially girls in India to fight for the cause of the environment and climate change in their areas. “I hope in the coming years many more women from India will feature in this list,” she said.
Her work
Also known as ‘Greta Thunberg of India’, Ridhima Pandey has been involved actively in the ‘Save Thano Forest’ movement to oppose the Uttarakhand government’s move to fell over 10,000 trees to expand Dehradun airport.
She is currently participating in international conferences and helping to empower other students, at all levels, to fight for their future and for the biodiversity of the world. Ridhima is working to save her future and that of coming generations.
Last December, Ridhima had started an online campaign urging the PM to talk about the alarming air pollution situation in India in his Mann Ki Baat and declare it as a public health emergency.
In September this year, Pandey in her hand-written letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that her worst nightmare was going to school with an oxygen cylinder, requesting PM Modi to make sure that “an oxygen cylinder doesn’t become an essential part of the life of children, which we may have to carry on our shoulders everywhere in future.”
The list includes Sanna Marin, who leads Finland’s all-female coalition government, Michelle Yeoh, star of the new Avatar and Marvel films and Sarah Gilbert, who heads the Oxford University research into a coronavirus vaccine, Jane Fonda, a climate activist and actress, as well as Pakistan’s celebrated actress Mahira Khan for her views on social issues.