On the finish of April, Fariza Dzhobirova attended a Mannequin United Nations Convention on Glaciers’ Preservation in Tajikistan’s capital, Dushanbe, the place she represented Switzerland.
For Ms. Dzhobirova, it was a rehearsal of types for the precise Excessive-levelConvention on Glaciers’ Preservation which started on Thursday in Dushanbe. There, she is going to function a panel member representing her personal nation.
“The [Model UN] convention gave me a platform to boost my voice, collaborate with like-minded friends from throughout the area and develop coverage suggestions that we hope will affect real-world selections,” she mentioned.
The Excessive-level Convention on Glaciers’ Preservation, hosted by the Authorities of Tajikistan and supported by number of United Nations businesses, will work to underline the intense urgency of melting glaciers, elevating it as a world local weather and growth problem.
Will glaciers survive the twenty first century?
Glaciers, alongside ice sheets, account for over 70 per cent of the world’s freshwater sources and are integral to many native economies, offering water, sustaining agriculture and producing vitality.
Nonetheless, as a result of rising temperature of the planet, glaciers are melting at unprecedented charges – scientists predict that if the present fee of melting continues, many glaciers won’t survive the 21st century.
In Tajikistan alone, 30 per cent of glaciers have disappeared during the last century, disrupting native and nationwide water provides and agricultural patterns. And Slovenia and Venezuela have misplaced all their glaciers.
Simply yesterday, sooner or later earlier than the convention was set to start, a partial glacier collapse in Switzerland buried most of a small village, in keeping with information studies.
“The loss of life of a glacier is extra than simply the lack of ice,” mentioned World Meteorological Group (WMO) Secretary-Basic Celeste Saulo.
Youth voices are the current and the longer term
Earlier than the convention, Parviz Boboev from the UN ountry staff in Tajikistan sat down with Ms. Dzhobirova to debate what motivates her local weather activism.
Photograph by UN Tajikistan
Fariza Dzhobirova, a younger local weather activist from Tajikistan, represents Switzerland at a Mannequin United Nations convention on glacier preservation.
Parviz Boboev: What impressed you to get entangled within the local weather motion?
Fariza Dzhobirova: Rising up in Tajikistan, the place greater than 90% of our freshwater comes from glaciers, I’ve seen how local weather change is already impacting folks’s lives. Rivers are shrinking, water is changing into much less accessible, and pure disasters like landslides and floods are affecting an increasing number of communities.
I’ve met a household who misplaced their residence due to mudflow. I noticed a teenage lady from that household of the identical age as me that had completely totally different issues due to this climate-related catastrophe. I used to be interested by my courses. She was interested by find out how to survive.
And I do know there are a lot of examples much like this – farmers whose land can not be irrigated and youngsters whose futures are in danger. Seeing this ache and injustice made it inconceivable for me to remain silent or uninvolved.
Collaborating within the upcoming Glaciers’ Preservation convention means rather a lot to me. It’s about elevating the voices of people who find themselves usually ignored of worldwide discussions. For me, it’s an opportunity to talk on behalf of my era and my nation, and to point out that younger individuals are able to be a part of the answer.
Parviz Boboev: What message do you hope to share on the convention in regards to the influence of local weather change in your neighborhood and era?
Fariza Dzhobirova: Being invited to talk is a superb accountability for me. It’s an opportunity to characterize not solely Tajikistan, however the voice of a era.
My message is that younger individuals are not simply the longer term — we’re the current, and we’re able to contribute right now. Local weather change shouldn’t be solely in regards to the setting — it’s about how we dwell, how we work, how we be taught. It impacts our alternatives, our psychological well being, our capability to plan for the longer term. And but, many younger individuals are nonetheless excluded from decision-making processes.
On the convention, I need to encourage leaders and policymakers to really hear not simply to the information and knowledge, however to the experiences and hopes of younger folks. While you give youth a platform, you don’t simply spend money on their potential — you strengthen the resilience and sustainability of total communities.
Parviz Boboev: Youth voices have gotten more and more essential in international local weather conversations. How do you see the position of younger folks in shaping options?
Fariza Dzhobirova: I really consider that younger folks have a novel position to play in shaping extra simply, inclusive and forward-looking local weather options. We convey recent concepts, the braveness to query outdated methods and a powerful sense of accountability for the longer term.
In nations like Tajikistan, the place glaciers are instantly related to folks’s livelihoods, youth are already stepping up. What we want now’s extra belief and funding in younger folks. We don’t anticipate to resolve the whole lot alone, however we do hope to be included — in dialogue, in decision-making, and in designing actual options.
Defending glaciers and water sources isn’t just a technical problem; it’s a human one. By working collectively — throughout generations and borders — we will make our area stronger, extra resilient, and extra united within the face of local weather change.
