EXTRAORDINARY PHOTOS RELEASED OF THE WORLD’S FIRST UNDERWATER CLIMATE PROTEST
The world’s first underwater climate strike has taken place in the heart of the Indian Ocean.
Scientist and climate advocate, Shaama Sandooyea, floated in the water at Saya de Malha Bank, a site 735km off the coast of the Seychelles home to vast seagrass meadows.
She held placards reading “Youth strike for Climate” and “Nou Reklam Lazistis Klimatik”, Mauritian creole for “We Demand Climate Justice”. The marine scientist joins youth and climate activists around the world as part of Fridays for Future’s March 19 climate strike.
The area in which she carried out her protest is close to home for the Mauritian scientist. She says she felt compelled to become an activist from a young age after seeing how vulnerable this stretch of ocean was to climate change and witnessing incidents like the recent oil spill in the area.
“Being from an island nation I know first-hand just how important healthy oceans are, not just to our climate but to the billions of people in the Global South who depend on them,” Sandooyea says.