Rising Stars: Youth Climate Activists From Pakistan

Climate change is more than just a buzzword for the generation most impacted by it. For young activists across the country, this isn’t an abstract issue; it is a fight for survival, justice and the future. They are actively rewriting the narrative on addressing climate change through local grassroots movements, educational resources and social media campaigns.

Didar Ali

Climate change became personal for Didar Ali when the 2010 floods destroyed the agricultural lands and indigenous plants in his village in Ghizer, Gilgit-Baltistan. Almost every summer since then, his village has been affected by landslides and rising water levels. The predictable weather patterns observed for decades were suddenly disrupted and a community that was once accustomed to plentiful snow now experienced a shortage along with a rise in flooding.

“Many elders in my community said yeh Allah ka azaab hai, but when I educated myself on climate change, I understood that this phenomenon was called the Anthropocene,” Didar explained.

Frustrated by the lack of awareness, he took it upon himself to educate the youth. He realised that misconceptions about climate change were rooted in outdated school curricula, which failed to explain the science behind these environmental shifts.

Alongside juggling university, Didar works with the Booni Environmental Academy (BEA) and Climate Forward Pakistan (CFP) – both youth-led organisations equipping young activists with the knowledge and tools to drive local climate action.

In 2022, Didar helped organise a regional climate summit hosted by the BEA in Chitral in collaboration with the Canadian High Commission. More than 60 activists gathered for the five-day residential camp featuring prominent environmental scientists such as Dr Fozia Parveen. The youth were educated on the science behind climate change, how it affects Gilgit-Baltistan and the initiatives they can take to mitigate its effects.

The BEA has also established a wildlife research centre to study Chitral’s biodiversity, tracking migratory bird patterns and conducting photography workshops and nature hikes to foster environmental awareness. “A core focus at the BEA is integrating environmental science with winter sports, which means educating the youth on environmental issues, climate change and wildlife conservation with the help of sports.” Didar’s community has been grateful for the work organisations like the BEA and CFP do. “Parents also appreciate it when we encourage their children to join our experiential learning camps.”

Didar’s advocacy has taken him to COP29, where he was part of the CFP delegation, speaking on three separate panels about the challenges faced by indigenous communities in Gilgit-Baltistan. “It was ironic how COP29 speakers kept saying young people are a resource, but actual negotiations happened behind closed doors – with no youth representation,” he said.

He lamented the lack of youth inclusion in Pakistan’s delegation, mostly bureaucrats. “The government needs to prioritise the youth as stakeholders in policymaking,” Didar said. “Not just the youth from urban centres but from frontline communities most vulnerable to climate change, like Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Balochistan.”

Despite this exclusion, Didar found a silver lining: he was able to network with climate activists from around the world, learning from their strategies and struggles. CFP’s Children and Youth Advisory Board is now conducting research on gaps in Pakistan’s climate policies from a youth perspective, with plans to release a report and capacitate the youth ahead of COP30. “You cannot achieve climate justice without addressing economic inequality and the capitalistic structures we live in.”

Zainab Waheed

Near a small village in Abbottabad, Zainab Waheed’s community shared the same fate as Didar’s. Their livelihood relied on predictable rainfall that enriched rivers but once that became erratic, girls from the community were pulled out of school to fetch water for their families.

Zainab was only 13 years old when she decided to take action through her writing. Today, she is a climate journalist whose work has appeared in both local and international publications, in English and Urdu. She has represented Pakistan at four international climate forums, amplifying the voices of marginalised communities.

Her primary focus is educating female madressah students in Islamabad about climate change and the impact it has on their communities. “Even in my private school, I wasn’t educated on climate change the way I should have been – so imagine the knowledge gap in madressahs, which are far more underfunded.” Zainab said. “These students hold immense potential to push for climate action, not only because they are future voters but also because they belong to economically vulnerable communities already facing climate disasters.”

Young women studying in madressahs are most likely to be overlooked when it comes to any sort of awareness or precautions for climate disasters, Zainab explained. “I felt the need to address this blind spot because just by educating these girls, we’re also, by extension, educating their communities about the risks that they have about climate change,” she said.

Following her selection to the Pakistan National Youth Council, Zainab hopes to work with the government in a climate advisory capacity. Little has come of the ‘green movements’ the government has initiated across universities. Instead, she wants to target government and primary schools and engage the youth in meaningful discussions on the climate crisis.

Social media has also been central to her advocacy. It was through these platforms that organisations like Global Citizen and the Ford Foundation discovered her work, inviting her to deliver keynote addresses. For Zainab, social media is the “weapon we can use” to call for accountability.

“The trend has been to blame individuals for climate change. We need to understand that it is just propaganda. Banning plastic straws won’t offset the billionaires who vomit out tonnes of carbon emissions when they fly in private jets. We need accountability at a systemic level.”

Rohana Khattak

When The New York Times held a contest asking students to invent a word in 2022, 16-year-old Rohana Khattak won with “oblivionaire” – a billionaire who chooses to be blind to the disparity and inequality their wealth is creating.

Social justice has always been at the centre of Rohana’s work alongside climate activism since “all cycles and systems are connected.” This keen sense of social justice informs her climate activism, which focuses on education and misinformation.

“There’s a narrow view that banning plastic straws, recycling, and tree plantation drives will solve the climate crisis. Those might work in the Global North, but in Pakistan, we need to fight against the tree-cutting mafia and industrial pollution,” she said.

Her view on climate change expanded when she educated herself on the matter through the work of other climate activists. “I realised there’s a huge flaw in our education system where you’re taught completely incorrect concepts. Everything else cannot be solved until you address climate change, which is the mother of all crises.”

She currently works with Youth Climate Activists Pakistan (YCAPK), which is the biggest youth climate organisation in the country. Her research team is developing a needs assessment survey to gauge how much the youth understand about climate change and who should take responsibility.

“We’ll take that data, analyse it and see what exactly is missing in the current education system on climate. Then, we’ll come up with workshops and lectures to deliver in schools.

Hania Imran

Hania Imran’s wake-up call came from a documentary detailing the climate crisis as a national endemic that nobody seemed to know about. Shocked by her lack of awareness, she wrote a letter to the Minister of Climate Change urging national campaigns – and planted 14 trees for her 14th birthday. She quickly realised that beyond awareness, Pakistan’s youth lacked the platforms and opportunities to engage in climate discourse and social issues.

“It was disturbing that the youth make up 60% of Pakistan’s population, yet have no spaces to express their ideas and concerns,” Hania explained. This frustration led her to found YCAPK, which curates resources, guides and climate training programs for young activists. “The youth has a lot of ideas, opinions and energy, and they need to be acknowledged in some way or another.”

The YCAPK team curates resources and guides for other climate activists, teaches the youth how to write climate opinion pieces and organises climate camps. “We realised how spaces like these are so needed in remote areas where conversations on climate aren’t happening.”

Hania didn’t stop there. She and a fellow activist filed a court case in the Islamabad High Court, demanding the government take action against the deteriorating air quality. The petition – the first of its kind in the federal capital – was based on the National Clean Air Policy 2023 and urged the government to ensure that Euro-5 standard fuel is being sold and that data on vehicles registered in Islamabad is collected and published.

Aware that courtroom activism has limitations, she is using social media to mobilise public support, calling for consistent action – not just during smog season but all-year-round. “Climate disasters are intensifying across Pakistan. We can’t afford complacency,” Hania concluded.

For these activists, climate justice is more than just policy – it is about survival. Yet, despite their groundbreaking work, Pakistan’s youth continues to be sidelined in the decision-making processes.

As Zainab Waheed puts it, “We don’t just need awareness. We need accountability. And that begins with all of us.”

Pakistan’s future is being shaped now. The question is: who gets to shape it?

Anushe Engineer is a journalist at Dawn.
anusheengineer@gmail.com

Header Image: Hania Imran