Meet 12-year-old Indian activist who protested at climate summit in Dubai

A 12-year-old climate activist from India took centre stage at the global climate summit on Monday when Licypriya Kangujam from Manipur dashed on to the stage at the United Nations Climate Conference 2023 (COP28) in Dubai. Holding a sign above her head that read, ‘End fossil fuels. Save our planet and our future’, she loudly appealed to climate delegates from across the globe to ‘act now’.About 60,000 delegates from 190 nations are part of this year’s climate conference in Dubai.
Regarded as India’s Greta Thunberg, Licypriya also made a short speech after rushing on the COP28 stage with a slogan, ‘Our Leaders Lie, People Die’ while protesting against the use of fossil fuels for which she received a round of applause from the audience before being escorted away.
COP28 director-general Ambassador Majid Al Suwaidi praised the Indian girl’s enthusiasm and encouraged the audience to give her another round of applause. The young activist later posted the video of the event on X, and said, “They detained me for over 30 minutes after this protest. My only crime- Asking to Phase Out Fossil Fuels, the top cause of the climate crisis today. Now they kicked me out of COP28.”
In another post, she wrote, “What is the reason to cease my badge for protesting against fossil fuels? If you’re really standing against fossil fuels, then you must support me and you must immediately release my badges. This is gross violation and abuse of Child Rights in the UN premises which is against the UN principle. I have the rights to raise my voice at the UN.”

Licypriya had earlier addressed world leaders at the 2019 UN Climate Change Conference in Madrid, asking them to take immediate action. She has been campaigning for climate action in India since 2018 and asking the government to pass new laws to curb India’s high pollution levels and to make climate-change literacy mandatory in schools.
Born on October 2, 2011 in Bashikhong, Manipur, Licypriya started raising her voice to combat climate change and disaster risk reduction when she turned seven. In 2018, Licypriya attended a UN disaster conference in Mongolia along with her father. This inspired her to get involved in climate activism. Licypriya had also donated her savings of Rs 1 lakh to Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan in August 2018 to help child victims of the massive floods in the state in the same year. She had attended the Unesco Partners’ Forum 2019.
On October 21, 2019, Licypriya started the ‘Great October March’ at India Gate with scores of her supporters. The march was meant to push for immediate government action on climate change.
In 2020, Licypriya published a letter to the participants at the World Economic Forum with other activists Greta Thunberg, Luisa Neubauer, Isabelle Axelsson, and Loukina Tille, calling on companies, banks and governments to immediately stop subsidising fossil fuels. Licypriya had also addressed global gatherings on Earth Day 2020 at Washington, DC. The event was organised virtually due to the Covid pandemic.