ISLAMABAD: US news magazine TIME has included Pakistani climate activist Ayisha Siddiqa to its list of 2023 Women of the Year, alongside 11 other inspiring ladies, including actors Cate Blanchett and Angela Bassett.
The list includes extraordinary leaders who have been working toward a more equal world and creating a better future for women by building bridges “across generations, communities, and borders,” according to the magazine’s website.
Siddiqa, 24, has been making the world think differently about climate action by channeling her feelings into poetry as a form of protest.
“When Ayisha Siddiqa talks about poetry, her face lights up,” the magazine wrote on its website.
“For the 24-year-old Pakistani human rights and climate defender, poetry represents hope — a way to bring humanity back into the staid, high-level conversations that increasingly occupy her time.”
At the annual UN climate conference in Egypt in November, Siddiqa shared an original poem, titled “So much about your sustainability, my people are dying,” as a rebuke to world leaders for their failure to act on climate change.
“Siddiqa felt the effects of this lack of action viscerally last year as she witnessed from afar the life-altering impacts of Pakistan’s floods, likely made more extreme by global warming,” TIME said.
At 14, Siddiqa realized how unsafe the environment could be after witnessing the illness and death, including of her grandparents’, that came from her community’s polluted river water in eastern Pakistan, according to the magazine.
The activist became aware of the link between human rights and climate change, realizing that for some people, access to resources was worth killing for.
“These realities and values are what motivate Siddiqa to use her voice to uplift the vulnerable and hold polluters to account,” TIME wrote.
Somali boxer and model Ramla Ali, American singer Phoebe Bridgers, Ukrainian rights activist Olena Shevchenko, US soccer player Megan Rapinoe among others also made it to the list for their inspiring journeys.
