TIANJIN, China (AFP) – Maya Khodave normally spends her days rummaging through rubbish dumps in a crowded Indian city but this week she is in China to offer herself as part of the solution to tackling global warming.
Dressed in a colourful sari, the slightly built 23-year-old has dazzled amid a wall of dark-suited negotiators at United Nations climate change talks while trying to raise awareness about the value of waste pickers around the world.
"We play a very important role in the environment, yet our work is not recognised," Khodave told reporters on the sidelines of the event in Tianjin, her voice strong and loud but tears occasionally welling in her eyes.
There are about 15 million people in cities across the developing world who survive by collecting rubbish, according to the Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance (GAIA), a non-government organisation that brought Khodave to China.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101008/sc_afp/unclimatewarmingpoverty_20101008032316
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
