Govt Should Listen to the Youth In Matters of the Environment: MoE Shauna

Climate change posed the biggest threat to the future of the youth and governments should listen to the voice of the youth, said Aminath Shauna, Minister of Environment.

Minister Shauna said this during the opening ceremony of the one-day conference being held to prepare for the COP-26, planned to be held in the United Kingdom on the 31st of this month.

She said that 40% of the Maldivian population comprised of young people and children below the age of 24, and that the effects of climate change and sea-level rise will have the biggest impact on them.

Therefore, she said, it was important for governments to listen to the youth and to accept their opinions when it came to efforts to minimize the effects on climate change.

The conference, held at the Islamic Centre's Conference Hall, was attended by Sun Ah Kim, UNICEF South Asia Regional Director; Caron Röhsler, the British ambassador to the Maldives; and other officials of the United Nations. More than 100 environmental experts from the Maldives and other island nations, in addition to businessmen and young people were also in attendance.