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Rabat – Hatim Aznague, founder and president of the Youth Association for Sustainable Development in Morocco, has secured a seat on the UAE-based Arab Youth Council for Climate Change.
The UAE-headquartered regional body for youth empowerment on the climate crisis announced the establishment of its new executive council on Sunday.
The new council includes 12 young men and women from eight Arab countries, including Morocco’s Hatim Aznague.
A long-time activist, Aznague’s advocacy work mainly revolves around awareness raising about the climate crisis and efforts needed to tackle, mitigate, or prevent consequences linked to human-induced ecological issues.
The regional council will work under the League of Arab States, which in turn with the Emirati Ministry of Climate Change and Environment and the Office of the UAE Special Envoy for Climate Change Affairs, among other private sector partners.
Morocco’s state news agency MAP said the council’s goal is to implement a number of vital objectives in terms of “Arab environmental action” as part of a regional action plan to face the challenges of climate change.
The council also seeks to convey the Arab youth’s voices and share their ideas to reinforce awareness about climate challenges and encourage investments in the field.
Many recently compiled data online show the urgency of increasing awareness regarding climate change.
A 2019 report from Afrobarometer shows that many Moroccans are not aware of climate change. The survey also suggests that there is widespread lack of knowledge regarding humans’ impact on the environment
At least 4 out of 10 Moroccans have never heard about climate change, the survey found, further noting that the climate change awareness rate goes from 17%, for people who never went to school, to 85% for those who received a university level education.
Aznague’s election to the regional council on climate change is not the first time his activism has been acknowledged on the international stage. At the World Festival of Action for Sustainable Development in 2018, the young Moroccan won the UN Sustainable Development Goals prize in the category of “mobilization initiatives.”
Commenting on his election as a member of the Arab Youth Climate Council, Aznague said he believes the council is an urgent response mechanism to climate change in the Arab world.
He pledged to use his membership of the regional council to foreground Morocco’s sustainability ambitions and campaign for Arab countries to join international efforts aimed at mitigating the repercussions of climate change.
