KEY POINTS:
- A 10-year-old Ghanaian poet has addressed delegates at the COP27 summit.
- Nakeeyat Dramani Sam shared her experience of climate change in Ghana.
- She urged the delegates to come to a resolution on 'payment' for poorer nations.
The 10-year-old girl came with purpose and a stern message for the world leaders and climate negotiators gathered at the COP27 summit in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt.
"I put a simple question on the table,” Ghanaian youth Nakeeyat Dramani Sam said after she was handed the microphone. “When can you pay us back? Because payment is overdue.”
She was referring to the crux at the heart of this year's summit: a funding mechanism to distribute money from rich nations to poorer nations for the irreversible impacts of climate change.
"Have a heart and do the math. It's an emergency," she told attendees at the COP27 summit.
The 10-year-old poet said she had been listening intently to the conversations at the climate summit before lobbing her question about payment, on behalf of youth and 1.5 billion residents in climate-vulnerable nations.
Nakeeyat shared her experience of the climate crisis, including the heavy rain which hit the capital of Ghana, Accra, last month.
"The rains were so heavy that it burst a dam on the River Densu. Cars were under water, people were paddling canoes where there had been streets. Thousands fled their houses. It was very scary for us.
"Kindly up your game," she said, choosing to end her speech by holding a sign reading "payment overdue".
She said she had cause to reflect on the generation gap when meeting 87-year-old US Climate Envoy John Kerry earlier this week.
"By the time I'm his age — God willing — it will be the end of this century," she said. "The fate of the most vulnerable will be the fate of the world."
Nakeeyat spoke as the youth ambassador for the Climate Vulnerable Forum of 58 countries, taking up a speaking spot reserved for Ghana at the informal stocktaking plenary at COP27 on Friday.
The 10-year-old said she had already taken action to enact change her local community, writing a book for children to understand environmental issues and setting up the Trees for Life project that aims to plant one tree per child in Ghana.
"Show us your courage. Be our heroes instead," she appealed to the leaders in the audience.
"Decide now, again, if you are rich or powerful, to provide funds to help the ones who suffer most the costs of climate disaster not caused by us. Please do not leave our communities exposed, hurt and out of pocket while holding more and more of these COPs. You will just get older and older – you are already old enough!"
