On July 13, 2022, we had the opportunity to speak to Heeta Lakhani, a climate educator who founded the ClimAct Foundation, about the leadership needed to create change-makers. When Dr. Ash Pachauri asked Heeta about the meaning of leadership to her, Heeta spoke about the importance of understanding the people you are working with and unlearning cultural biases to effectively work with a diverse group of people. To Heeta, leadership means trying to understand the problem from somebody else’s point of view.

Alejandra Fragoso askes Heeta about the challenges that prevent youth from becoming changemakers, to which she answered that a major issue is the lack of access to information and resources as well as not realizing that they can create change themselves. Through her work, Heeta reduces these challenges and aims to get people to transition from knowledge to action.

Komal Mittal asked about how we can involve the youth more actively in international climate decisions. Heeta spoke about the importance of making international technicalities and language more understandable as a first step for youth to create a difference. She also mentioned that change does not necessarily need to be done through policy. Youth can become involved in many other aspects.

Samuel Okorie asked Heeta about YOUNGO and her work there to which she answered that YOUNGO is a voluntary-based group of young people who are interested in creating change. It is composed of over 10,000 young leaders from over 170 countries, who are collaborating through different working groups to create change in many different topics. (To sign up to YOUNGO, please visit the following link: https://tinyurl.com/YOUNGO-Membership)

Finally, Meda asked how high-level institutions and governments can take youth’s demands into account. To this, Heeta answered that a great practice for the youth is coming up with a plan and ideas of how the most pressing issues can be solved. She also suggested creating an intergenerational approach and dialogue to see different perspectives.

About our guest speaker

Heeta Lakhani is a climate educator and founded the ClimAct Foundation. She has a Masters of Science in Environmental Studies and Resource Management from TERI University, India. She is a firm believer in the power of youth participation in grassroots and international processes and strives to create change-makers who combat the climate crisis with knowledge-based action. Heeta was introduced to the world of the United Nations Climate Change process at COP21 in 2015 and was the Global Focal Point for YOUNGO for 2020-21. She also works on training youth to be effective negotiators in the UN intergovernmental processes through the Youth Negotiators Academy.