Indian Girl Among 16 Kids Who’ve Sued Countries for Climate Crisis

One among the 16 youth petitioners is India’s Ridhima Pandey, a 11-year-old hailing from Uttarakhand.

After child activists claimed Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Turkey had failed to uphold their end on the Convention on the Rights of the Child a petition was filed on Monday, 23 September, against them.

One among the youth petitioners is India's Ridhima Pandey, a 11-year-old hailing from north India’s Uttarakhand.

Her profile on the Children Vs Climate Crisis website reads that her mission is to "save the future."

“I want a better future. I want to save my future. I want to save our future. I want to save the future of all the children and all people of future generations,” she says.

When Pandey Moved NGT

Two years ago in 2017, Pandey dragged the Indian government to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for failing to act against climate change.

In her petition, she contended that ‘India was one of the most vulnerable countries to be affected by climate change’ and called for immediate government action to assess industrial projects, prepare a carbon budget and create a climate recovery plan.

However, the NGT disposed the plea stating that the matter was covered under the environmental impact assessment.

Six years ago, Pandey moved with her family from Nainital to the holy town of Haridwar.

“Every year in July, there is a festival called Kanwar Yatra which is held near the holy Ganges River. But recently, it is much hotter in the summer and winter months. The hotter temperatures have threatened the Ganges River, which now faces lowering water levels from recent droughts, thereby challenging the continuation of the religious rituals that are centered around it.”

Ridhima Pandey

Sixteen-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg, who is also a petitioner in the case, in an emotional address at the United Nations Climate Summit in New York, said that the world leaders have ‘failed the future generations by failing to act against climate crisis’.

“This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school, on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!,” she said, pointing at government and corporate inaction over the climate crisis.  

Greta Thunberg