Climate change is a burning issue in today’s world. There are two levels of addressing it. One is at a government level and other is at the individual level. At the individual level, awareness and authentic information about the issue is the key.
Arab Youth Climate Movement Qatar (AYCM-Q) has been focusing on raising awareness about the global issue that has been affecting everyone. They have been regularly organising talks and seminars in Qatar where experts speak about the issue and how an individual can help reduce the impact of the climate change.
Most recently, AYCM-Q released a short video, five-minute-long, at a ceremony held at Qatar National Library. The video highlights the significance of raising awareness on the issue featuring messages of different ambassadors and diplomats in Qatar.
Many people attended the video launch ceremony including the ambassadors of Germany, the Netherlands, Tanzania, Sweden, and Unesco Director of GCC and Yemen, highlighting the growing recognition of the need for awareness and action to climate change at the individual level.
Talking to Community, Neeshad Shafi, Executive Director of AYCM-Q, said, “The documentary Stories of Connectedness introduces viewers to the topic of climate change. Different diplomats and ambassadors have voiced their support for a global action.”
He said, “The documentary was produced and directed by AYCM-Q in four months as part of its strategic initiative ‘Bringing Closer to Nature’, aimed at developing series of videos on various environmental issues in a systematic approach explaining the interrelationship and delicate balance that exists between all living beings, including the nature. There is a dire need of understanding how global and local ecosystems work and interact and how our human intervention at different levels is altering the balance of the local-global ecosystem.”
He further said, “Ajay Sharma, Ambassador of Britain; Bahia Tahzib-Lie, Ambassador of the Netherlands; Francisco Niembro, Ambassador of Mexico; Anna Paolini, Director of Unesco to GCC & Yemen; Hans-Udo Muzel, Ambassador of Germany; Ewa Polano, Ambassador of Sweden; Eric Chevallier, former Ambassador of France; Ivonne Baki, Ambassdor of Ecuador; Adrian Norfolk, Ambassador of Canada; and Maciej Kubicki, former Charge d’Affaires of Poland; have shared their voices in the video documentary. The messages explain how climate change affects our planet, why we need to act promptly to mitigate its effects, and how youth can contribute to climate action and solution.”
“Water scarcity or surplus water often threatens local population. But, it can also trigger wild conflict and migration. Adapting to climate change is as important as fighting for it.” said Bahia Tahzib-Lie in her video message.
In his video message, Neeshad says, “Climate change is threatening everyone. It is affecting the communities we live in and damaging our natural ecosystems. Every ecosystem that our survival is dependent on.” He added, “Our behaviours must change keeping in mind how our relationship with nature must evolve and that every day that passes is a wasted opportunity.”
“Impacts of El Niño 30 or 40 years ago were not as bad as it is now. Now, we are seeing a lot of flooding, Extreme rain and rising of the oceans across globe,” said Ivonne Baki.
Eric Chevallier explained the importance of Paris Agreement and said, “This was a key moment in history. But it was only a starting point. This is not the end of the story. It is beginning of the dynamics or stepping of dynamics”.
“Since World War-II, our way of consuming went too far and is not sustainable anymore. It is definitely not sustainable for the Earth to cope with. We don’t have any other option, so why don’t we care about it?” said Anna Paolini.
“If we don’t take climate action, it will have impact people’s livelihoods, it will impact on our lifestyle, it will have impact on our community,” said Ajay Sharma.
Ewa Polano said, “We need to work together, because climate change affects us all, it has no borders.”
Maciej Kubicki emphasised the importance of youth for climate action and invited all to the upcoming COP24, UNFCC climate change conference, in Katowice, Poland.
Hessa al-Noaimi, AYCM-Qatar board member, in the video has explained how they are helping in raising awareness among the youth about the severity of the issue.
SCREENING: The five-minute-long video being screened for the audience at Qatar National Library.
