Moksha Roy inspires the audience at the UK River Summit
Hello everyone, my name is Moksha, I'm nine years old and I have the distinction of being the world's youngest sustainability advocate. I would like to thank you for giving me this wonderful opportunity to share my messages with you all today. I know we're all very hungry so I'll try to keep it as short as possible.
When I was about four years old I visited a beach in Cornwall with my family. I ran towards the sea feeling excited and happy until I smelt a horrible stench which was being carried by the sea breeze. I was confused as to what it was and as a young child my first reaction to this was shock and then anger.
I was expecting wonderful things from the sea not a horrible stench that ruined my day. When I found out what the terrible smell was and that sewage is being dumped into our rivers and oceans I felt really sad and upset and all I could think of was how I could do something to help stop this from happening.
I know that I'm not the only child in the UK to have experienced something like this however if I were to ask all the adults in the room to raise their hands if they had experienced something like this in their childhood I'm sure I won't see many hands or any at all.
I am an advocate for the UN rights of the child and access to clean and safe water is one of the most important rights for all children. We don't want to live in a world where we don't have access to one of our basic rights which is to have clean and safe water.
Though I live in a very developed country our waters are still badly polluted and this is a violation of our children's rights. Now the very fragile ecosystems of our rivers and streams are being damaged badly and this is also leading to much larger impact of climate change.
So I think that all of this makes it really clear that the time to step up and take action to save our waters is not now but was in the past. However I believe all hope is not lost. If we act with more speed, urgency and determination perhaps we can still get there.
As a UN Water Week ambassador I help children and young people to become water saving heroes using technology, gadgets and even just simple tweaks to their habits of water use. I would warmly welcome any collaboration so that I can carry on spreading this message far and wide and I can inspire more children and young people to act and save our precious waters.
And finally to me water is like a friend. A friend that's always been there for me. Always fresh, fun and kind.
Imagine if you had a friend like that. You wouldn't dump sewage and chemical waste, PFAs and other horrible things onto them would you? No you wouldn't. So why are we shoveling toxic wastes into our precious waterways and rivers when they are like our closest friends?
This is why I believe that our rivers, streams and seas deserve the same respect that we would give to one of our closest friends. And I know it's not that simple but if adults can relearn to love water just like children perhaps they can help change laws faster and make them stricter.
Securing water security for all. Thank you.
“The River Summit was such an inspiring event that helped us all feel one with water and value the most precious gift we have from planet Earth. I really cherished the beautiful opening ceremony by the River Wandle, and it was a delight to have met and shared ideas with so many amazing people who are as passionate about protecting our rivers, as I am. Thank you Claire for hosting such a wonderful platform where we all could come together to ensure we have safe and clean water for everyone in the UK.”
