Mayor of Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown and Amujae Leader, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr OBE, delivered a speech at the premiere of the new film ‘Ökozid’ in Stuttgart, Germany.

The film is set in 2034 and is a legal drama in which the countries of the Global South have sued the rich, industrialized countries at the International Court of Justice for neglecting to pass sufficient legislation to tackle climate change. Ökozid means ‘ecocide’ in German, a topic close to Ms. Aki-Sawyerr’s heart given her work to combat erosion and climate change in Freetown by pledging to plant over 1 million trees over the next three rainy seasons to limit the impact the eco-crisis is having on human life.

Mayor Aki-Sawyerr emphasized that climate change is already affecting millions of people–particularly in Africa–despite the fact that the continent only contributes up to 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions:

“Freetown, like many other cities in the Global South, is already experiencing the impact of abnormal weather patterns.”

The event was also attended by Peter Kurz, the Mayor of Mannheim and President of the Global Parliament of Mayors, Thekla Walker, Stuttgart Minister of the Environment, Michael Bloss, Member of the European Parliament, and Councillor Musa Sesay of Ward 421, Freetown.

Follow Ms. Aki-Sawyerr’s efforts against climate change on Twitter.