INTERVIEW: Youths are moving from carrying placards to innovations, says climate activist

Baliqees Salaudeen-Ibrahim, a climate and social activist, spoke to TheCable at the recently concluded COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Salaudeen-Ibrahim said the climate conference did not address national commitments on climate adaptation and finance as expected.

“One of the things that has really been lagging behind is the adaptation finance. We have not seen so much push and so much commitments around that,” she said.

“But in the African context, our African leaders are calling for more funding from developed countries to enable them to adapt to climate change and scale their climate action.

“Another thing is that a lot of young people like myself are moving from just advocating, carrying placards and also bringing our social media voices to life through innovations.

“With my work at Green Republic Farms, we are creating jobs for young people through agriculture.

“We currently have over 50 people who are working with us. We are giving them decent salaries, we are giving them an inclusive system and I think that these are things that we need to continue to push”.

Salaudeen-Ibrahim is the founder of Bays Planet Foundation, She Leads Climate Action, and Girl Up Nigeria.

She is also on the CEO’s Youth Advisory Panel at the Global Centre on Adaptation.

Salaudeen-Ibrahim is also the co-founder of Green Republic Farms Limited, a company that aims to redefine traditional agricultural practices through climate-smart and eco-friendly processes.

Watch the full interview below