Dubai-based green crusader Kehkashan Basu (16) is the winner of the International Children’s Peace Prize, 2016, an award presented annually by the Amsterdam-based KidsRights Foundation (estb. 2003). Previous winners include Pakistani women’s rights activist and Nobel laureate Malala Yousefzai (2013), among others. Kehkashan was awarded a trophy, higher education study grant and project funding of €100,000 (Rs.71 lakh) at a glittering ceremony in The Hague (Netherlands) by Bangladesh Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus on December 2.
Endowed by the Amsterdam-based ABN AMRO Bank and founded by Dutch child rights activist Marc Dullaert over a decade ago to “give children a platform to voice their struggles and circumstances”, the foundation acknowledges and celebrates child rights activists in the 12-18 age group. Kehkashan was selected from among 4,000 international nominees.
The only child of Dubai-based Mausham Basu, an IIT-Kharagpur alumnus and general manager of Al Futtaim Panatech, a constituent company of the Dubai-based conglomerate Al Futtaim Group (net worth: $1.6 billion) and homemaker Swati, Kehkashan has recently completed her IGCSE class XI examinations from The Deira International School, Dubai.
Born and raised in the UAE, Kehkashan began her green crusade when she was eight years old. “I was deeply moved by a picture of a dead bird choked with plastic, and started thinking seriously about the effects of environment neglect. Therefore on my eighth birthday which coincidentally falls on World Environment Day (June 5), I pledged to plant a sapling annually and organised a series of waste-recycling campaigns in my neighbourhood,” she recalls. In 2012, she promoted the Green Hope Foundation, Dubai with a team of 1,000 volunteers which has so far co-ordinated waste recycling, beaches and mangrove clean-ups, tree planting and awareness campaigns for children and youth in ten countries including Nepal, India, France, and the US.
Kehkashan is now examining higher education options which will equip her to expand the Green Hope footprint worldwide. “I am exploring pre-university courses and a bachelor’s programme in environmental science at the University of Toronto, and perhaps a Masters at Harvard. Our foundation already works in the US as a partner with the World Bank’s Connect4Climate initiative,” she says
With this go-getting young activist and her committed band of followers going from strength to strength, there is perhaps a chance to heal the world.
Swati Roy (Delhi)
