NEW YORK- UNS: As world leaders and diplomats arrived at the United Nations Headquarters for the Secretary-General’s High-Level Event on Climate Action and the Just Transition, frontline activists, climate campaigners, and members of New York’s Nepali diaspora gathered outside to demand immediate international action on climate reparations and a full, fast, and fair transition away from fossil fuels.
Representing regions hit hardest by fossil fuel pollution and extreme weather—including the U.S. Gulf Coast, the Permian Basin, the Philippines, Kenya, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Colombia and flood-ravaged villages across Nepal—protesters highlighted the mounting human toll of continued fossil fuel expansion and inaction of fossil fuel phase-out.
They were joined by New York State Assemblywoman Sarahana Shrestha, the first NY State legislator of Nepali origin. Central to the group’s message was an urgent call for high-emitting wealthy nations to meet their legal and moral obligations to the Global South.
Demonstrators emphasized that the U.S. and other Global North countries must pay their historical climate debts to enable developing nations to build climate resilience, recover from loss and damage arising from climate disasters, and pursue a rapid, equitable and just transition to renewable energy.
These are in addition to the Global North’s obligation to move swiftly towards domestic zero GHG emissions.Speakers at the rally included Anisha Buda Magar, National Indigenous Women Forum (Nepal) Alicia Gallegos, Laguna & Acoma Pueblos, Climate Justice Organizer, Pueblo Action Alliance, Dr. Roishetta Ozane, Vessel Project of Louisiana, Sharif Jamil, Waterkeepers Bangladesh and Bangladesh Climate Justice Movement and the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD) and Jose Reyeros, youth climate activist from Mexico
