The Climate Question

Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate is on a mission to make sure Africa is listened to on climate justice.

In early 2019 she started taking to the streets of Kampala to protest about climate change. It was a lonely pursuit. She was often on her own, or at best with a couple of her siblings or friends. But she quickly started gaining recognition, and has since spoken at the UN and Davos.

However, a year ago she was thrust into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons when the Associated Press cut her out of a photo with four other white youth climate activists at an international climate conference. That painful experience has since informed her activism and role within the climate movement: "We will not have climate justice without social and racial justice", she says.

So, of all the problems the African continent is facing, why did she choose to raise her voice on climate change - and is anybody listening?