Singapore youth climate activists to host inaugural Asia Climate Rally online with regional counterparts

• Youth climate activists in Singapore will host the Asia Climate Rally online with their regional counterparts
• The rally involves activists from nine countries and territories in Asia
• They will make five demands on climate action of their governments in the online event on Nov 28

SINGAPORE — Youth climate activists in Singapore will be joining forces with their regional counterparts later this month to demand “bold” climate action from their respective governments as part of the inaugural Asia Climate Rally.

These activists, who come from nine countries and territories in Asia, will lay out five demands they are making of their respective governments, multinational corporations and other institutions in an online event to be streamed on the Asia Climate Rally website on Nov 28, they said in a media briefing on Tuesday (Nov 10).

Besides Singapore, which will be represented by environmental youth group SG Climate Rally, the other activists are from Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines and South Korea.

The demands are:

• Implementing “bold climate action” that encourages divestment from fossil fuel industries

• Protecting the lives of environmental and human rights defenders

• Strengthening climate and environmental laws and policies while repealing destructive ones

• Demanding accountability from big climate polluters and giving space for youth participation in environmentalism

• Implementing a “green and just” response to the climate crisis and Covid-19 pandemic

SG Climate Rally, which organised Singapore’s inaugural climate rally last year, told TODAY on Wednesday that these demands are encapsulated in its Greenwatch policy brief, which was issued to all political parties in Singapore in March this year. The brief suggests several environmental policies for parties to include in their manifestos.

For example, the policy brief calls for Singapore to account for carbon emissions from international aviation and marine bunker fuels which are currently excluded from Singapore’s national total of greenhouse gas emissions. This is in line with the fourth demand by Asia Climate Rally which calls for accountability from big climate polluters.

In the lead-up to the online event, activists from the respective countries will also be hosting offline events, said a spokesperson from the Asia Climate Rally in Tuesday’s press conference.

For example, Indonesian activists are planning to strike in front of their government’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources building in Jakarta, if social gathering laws permit.

Locally, SG Climate Rally launched the #TakeBack2050 campaign in September to encourage Singapore residents to submit visions of a future where the Republic has successfully averted the climate crisis. These visions, which can be submitted on SG Climate Rally’s website, will be collated and sent to government agencies and other relevant institutions after the online rally.

SG Climate Rally’s spokesperson, Mr Kristian-Marc James Paul, said that it is important for activists in Singapore to collaborate with their regional counterparts given that Singapore has been complicit in environmental practices that hurt communities in Southeast Asia.

For example, sand mining practices by Singapore firms to support land reclamation and construction here have harmed the livelihoods of farming communities in the region, he said.

“These are power dynamics that we must seriously reckon with. We have reaped the benefits of reclaimed land at the expense of our neighbours,” said the 26-year-old.

In addition, building a regional movement may help to signal to regional leaders that there is a significant number of people who care about the climate crisis, he added.

Mr Kristian said that SG Climate Rally has been seeking ways to meaningfully participate with other movements across Asia and sees the inaugural rally as the start of more regional action to come.

Inform your views: Join Today for our lunchtime webinars every Thursday from Nov 12 to Dec 3, as we discuss issues surrounding activism, cyber vigilantism, gender equality and mental health. Get more information here