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Young people fight back against ecoanxiety
Indonesian young people express their anxiety about environmental issues affecting not only their daily lives but also the community as a whole, asking candidates at the 2024 general election to pay more attention to the issue.
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Christina Rumahlatu (third right) joins a protest at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry office in Jakarta on Sept. 28, 2023, against a geothermal exploration in Buru regency, Maluku. The 27-year-old student is protesting against the mining operation, which is part of the national strategic project, that the locals in Buru see as threatening their homes and destroying their clean water sources. (Courtesy of Christina Rumahlatu/-)
Y
oung people across Indonesia are standing up to fight for their futures amid anxiety about the climate crisis and the environmental destruction that will threaten their lives now and in the future, calling on all election candidates to join the struggle by addressing the problems thoroughly.
Thousands of young people from across Indonesia gathered in Jakarta on Nov. 25 to share their stories of fighting for their futures amid climate anxiety while calling on presidential candidates to address their concerns thoroughly.
The future of 17-year-old Ahmad Syaifullah is currently at stake as rising sea levels caused by climate change threaten to submerge his home in Pari Island, one of many small islands in Jakarta’s Thousand Island regency.
"Tidal flooding that has happened since 2020 has meant our land cannot be cultivated and water from wells is inaccessible," Ahmad said during a youth conference organized by the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), adding that Pari locals have to rely on distilled water for drinking.
While tidal flooding has erased at least 11 percent of land on Pari Island, the unpredictable weather in recent years has also made it difficult for 80 percent of villagers who made a living as fishermen to go to sea, he added.
For that reason, four residents of Pari Island filed a lawsuit in January against the world’s largest manufacturer of building materials Holcim at a Swiss court for its global operations that exacerbate climate change impacts.
While Pari Island is not directly affected by the industrial activities of Holcim, the company has produced over 7 billion tonnes of carbon emissions between 1950 and 2022 globally that are believed to have caused sea levels to rise, according to Ahmad.
