A change-maker trying to make the world a better place
Sohara Mehroze Shachi is the first Bangladeshi to win the Asian Environmental Journalism Award. Her commendable work on environmental activism enabled her become the Young Environmental Journalist of 2016. She is among the 10 Journalists and Media Organizations who have been recognized for their expansive effort to address environmental issues.
Following graduation from Yale University, she returned Bangladesh and has been working with UNDP with a focus on building resilience to climate change. Her writings on climate change have found their way into many international publications including Thomson Reuters, DW, Huffington Post as well as national publications The Daily Star, The Financial Express , New Age and Dhaka Tribune.
This year, she got the opportunity to represent the voice of global youth at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, where she spoke about this issue to the leaders of the free world, including President of the World Bank Jim Kim, Managing Director of IMF Christine Lagarde and Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh.
In an exclusive interview amongst her busy schedule, Sohara shares her vision.
- Share with us your visions as to how you want to see the world.
The international climate change agreement of COP 21 marked the beginning of the journey towards a sustainable, zero carbon future. While governments and international organizations need to work at the macro level to implement the Paris agreement, I envision a world where all citizens including youth use their power as voters, mobilizers, and innovators to ensure sustainability is the future.
- What has driven you to be the person you are – a youth change-maker.
As a citizen of one of the most climate vulnerable nations of the world – Bangladesh – I grew up with firsthand experience of the impacts of climate change, as evidenced in the form of increased frequency and intensity of natural disasters wreaking havoc on lives and livelihoods of people of my country. I believe that as a youth, the way I can contribute most effectively to help the vulnerable people is through powerful storytelling to encourage action. So I write articles on various national and international publications, with the aim of raising awareness on the impacts of climate change, the need for increased finance flows to poorer countries such as mine for adaptation, and to build a momentum for policy change to mitigate carbon emissions significantly. I have also been using the platform of Climate Tracker – the world’s largest network of young climate change activists – to build the capacity of youth to effectively tell stories of climate impacts and motivate them to take up action to safeguard the planet.
- Share with us, some of the preliminary stages of your success.
I was the first Bangladeshi to win the Asian Young Environmental Journalist of the Year award as well as USA’s Online News Association’s MJ Bear fellowship for early career journalists last year. And because of my work with Climate Tracker, I was one of the 80 international youth fellows selected from around 8000 applicants for the International Leadership Program in UK, where I had the honor of discussing my work with Prince Charles at his royal residence in Windsor Castle. I aim to utilize the lessons of this program to inspire and equip more youth for climate action.
- If you have, any message, for your young friends both in Bangladesh and abroad.
Young people are often said to be “the future,” but they are also the present, alive in this moment. And global warming is not a problem for future generations – it is impacting us today. So, youth need to mobilize and get equipped with the skills to lobby effectively for combating climate change.
