The climate emergency "is not a future problem, it is something that is already affecting us", the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg said today at COP25, the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference currently underway in Madrid.
In a debate between other young activists, alongside people from all over the world, she said that "people are suffering and dying for [climate change] today".
Thunberg, who has been subject to intense media attention at the summit, passed the floor quickly to her fellow young activists. "Their stories must be heard", she said, adding that the purpose of the event was "to share the stories that needed to be shared".
Indigenous people
Later on, in response to a question from journalist Amy Goodman, Thunberg said that "it is so incredibly important that we listen to indigenous people" because they "are suffering" and their "rights are being violated across the world".
She also noted they are "among those who are being hit the most and the quickest by the climate and environmental emergency". She also said that "we need to listen to them because they have valuable knowledge", having "been living in balance with nature for hundreds of years".
Although she made a surprise visit to the conference last week, today's press conference was her first formal event. She will also take part today in an event called "Children and Young People, Against Climate Change". Organised by UNICEF, it will also feature former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet and former Irish president Mary Robinson.