My name is Elizabeth Wathuti.
I am a youth climate activist from Kenya.
I have done a lot of soul-searching about what to say here today.
I have asked myself
over and over what words might move you.
And then I realized that making my four minutes count
does not rest solely on me.
My truth will only land
if you have the grace to fully listen.
My story will only move you
if you can open up your heart.
I can urge you to act at the pace and skill necessary,
but in the end, your will
to act must come from deep within.
I need to tell you what is happening in my home country.
Right now, as we sit
comfortably here in this conference center in Glasgow,
over two million of my fellow Kenyans are facing
climate-related starvation.
In this past year, both of our rainy seasons have failed,
and scientists say that it may be another
12 months before the waters return again.
Meanwhile, our rivers are running dry.
Our harvests are failing.
Our storehouses stand empty.
Our animals and people are dying.
I have seen, with my own eyes, three young children
crying at the side of a dried-up river after walking
12 miles with their mother to find water.
Please open your hearts.
This is not only happening in Kenya.
Over the past few months,
there have been deadly heatwaves and wildfires in
Algeria, and devastating floods in Uganda and Nigeria.
And there is more still to come.
By 2025, in just four years' time,
half of the world's population
will be facing water scarcity.
And by the time I'm 50,
the climate crisis will have displaced
86 million people in sub-Saharan Africa alone.
I would like you to join me
in holding a moment of compassionate silence for
the billions of people who are not here with us today,
whose stories are not being heard and whose suffering
is not being felt.
Please open your hearts.
If you allow yourself to feel it, the heartbreak
and the injustice is hard to bear.
Sub-Saharan Africans are responsible for
just half a percent of historical emissions.
The children are responsible for none, but
they are bearing the brunt.
We are the adults on this Earth right now,
and it is our responsibility
to ensure that the children have food and water.
I have been doing what I can.
Inspired by the great professor Wangari Mathaai,
I founded the Green Generation Initiative, a tree-growing
initiative that enhances food security for young Kenyans.
So far, we have grown 30,000 fruit trees
to maturity, providing desperately needed nutrition
for thousands of children.
Every day we see that when we look after the trees,
they look after us.
But these trees, and the life-saving fruit they bear,
will not survive on a 2.7-degrees-Celsius-warmer planet.
The decisions you make here will help determine
whether the rains will return to our land.
The decisions you make here will help determine
whether the fruit trees we plant will live or perish.
The decisions you make here
will help determine whether children
will have food and water.
I believe in our human
capacity to care deeply and to act collectively.
I believe in our ability to do what is right
if we let ourselves feel it in our hearts.
So for these next two weeks,
let us feel it in our hearts.
The children cannot live
on words and empty promises.
They are waiting for you to act.
Please, open your hearts,
and then act.
Thank you.