Kenyan Activist Wins Award in Beyond International Film Festival 2020

Climate activist Elizabeth Wanjiru Wathuti.
Climate activist Elizabeth Wanjiru Wathuti.
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Kenyan climate activist Elizabeth Wanjiru Wathuti on Sunday, July 26, won an award at the Beyond International Film Festival 2020.

Wathuti who is the Head of Campaigns and Daima Consortium Coordinator at the Wangari Maathai Foundation was awarded the Best Thought Award for her work in conservation and environmental education.

"Congratulations to Elizabeth Wanjiru Wathuti, a young climate activist who won our Best Thought Award! She moved and inspired all of us and showed that there is always hope," the festival announced.

Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, the conservationist stated that she was excited to be recognised for her work adding that the climate change conversation needed to be brought to every discussion for future generations.

Climate activist Elizabeth Wathuti. She is the founder of Green Generation Initiative (GGI).
Climate activist Elizabeth Wathuti. She is the founder of Green Generation Initiative (GGI), an organisation that advocates for environmental education in Kenya.
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"I am humbled to receive the award for my work in conservation and I hope for more young people to take the lead in fighting for climate change," she stated.

Accepting her award virtually, Wathuti explained that her desire to protect the environment from the unsustainable human influence which she undertakes under her organisation Green Generation Initiative (GGI).

"I saw these issues that are destroying our environment including pollution and deforestation that are bringing about disastrous effects of food insecurity, floods that come as a result of unpredictable weather patterns and decided to educate young people in schools about climate change," she conveyed.

Wathuti added that it is never too early for children to learn about the environment and how to care for it. She explained that trees needed to be nurtured in the same way humans sustain their bodies.

"The campaign is run under the Green Generation Initiative is not only to increase forest cover but to also help children connect with nature. We want to inspire them to be the change-makers and to want to secure our natural resources," she explained.

Also feted in the Festival was American documentary maker Jared P. Scott for his movie "The Great Green Wall" which won the award for best documentary.

Germany's Christoph Hertel took the prize for best short fiction with his piece "After Us The Flood" while the best short documentary award went to "Talamanca" by Davide Marinho. 

 Watch video of Wathuti accepting her award below:

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The Beyond International Film Festival put on a special change edition citing that the climate crisis and the imminent ecological collapse would affect may facets of human lives including the economic, political, social, and technological systems.

"We see ourselves not only as a festival, but as a creative network that offers the opportunity to become an element of the "Future Design Movement" by encouraging and cultivating individual and collective creation," reads a section on the organisation's website.

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