In the fight against climate change as a cause of wars and conflicts, “the movement started by Greta is an important contribution to peace.” This is how the young activist Greta Thunberg's name has been put forward for the 2019 Nobel Prize.
The young Swedish activist Greta Thunberg is now unstoppable. Having single-handedly started the climate strike movement, giving rise to #FridaysForFuture and inspiring and mobilising tens of thousands of students — and others — around the world, her name has now been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
"We have put forward Greta's name because the climate threat could be one of the most important causes of wars and conflicts. And the movement that Greta has set in motion is an important contribution to peace," commented Freddy Andre Oevstegaard, one of three Norwegian members of parliament belonging to the Socialist Party who submitted Greta Thunberg's name to the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
The young climate activist, who said on her Twitter account that she was "honoured and grateful" for this recognition, was recently named Woman of the Year 2019 by the Swedish press, having made her voice heard at some of the most important gatherings of global leaders, such as at Cop 24, the climate change conference in Katowice, Poland, and at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, sending a clear message to governments about their lack of action in addressing the greatest challenge of our time, climate change. Her voice has been heard and shared around the world, giving rise not only to a movement of protest, but also of hope.
The nomination of a person for a Nobel Prize can be made by qualified individuals who meet the committee's criteria: these include being members of a government or cabinet of a sovereign state (such as the Norwegian parliamentarians in this case), members of the International Court of Justice and the Institut de Droit International, or those who have already received the prize. For the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, 301 candidates have been submitted to date — a record number according to the committee — of whom 223 are individuals and 78 are organisations. While waiting to learn the names of the prize winners, announced every year in October, Greta Thunberg will be at the helm of the event that crowns the movement she began quietly outside the Swedish parliament and which is now making itself heard in every corner of the globe: the global climate strike on 15 March, organised in 1,659 locations across 105 countries.
I think what we are seeing is just the beginning. I believe that change is on the horizon and that people will mobilise for their own future.Greta Thunberg
