It was a once in a lifetime chance for the young woman to make her point. As she walked to the podium, Elizabeth Wathuti, Kenya’s rising environmentalist, could see President Joe Biden in the audience. It really was she says, her moment to impress on global leaders who should atone for sins against a heating planet.
At last November’s UN climate change conference (Cop26) in Glasgow Wathuti’s speech enumerated the struggles low-income countries face feeding their populations due to the climate crisis. “As we sit comfortably here, more than 2 million of my fellow Kenyans are facing climate-related starvation. In this past year, both our rainy seasons have failed and scientists say that it may be another 12 months before the water returns again. Meanwhile, our rivers are running dry, our harvests are failing,” she said. “Our store houses stand empty. Our animals and people are dying.”
