Sagarika Sriram

Sagarika Sriram is the 17 year old Founder/CEO of Kids4abetterworld (est. 2017). Of Indian origin, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is her birthplace and home. When she was 10 years old, her love for animals and nature sparked her passion for environmentalism . As she says , “when I watched a NatGEO video on whales which had washed up onshore as a result of an oil spill and turtles found dead with plastic in their belly, I could not understand how our actions as humans were causing so much harm to the environment. Working on a coding and web development project at the time she decided to create an innovative ‘Kids for Kids’ technology platform that connects young children to drive sustainability projects in their communities.

Kids4abetterworld conducts awareness workshops on sustainability, recycling and waste management, beach and desert clean ups and projects related to marine sonservation. It aims to
educate, motivate and activate children to conserve natural resources, protect biodiversity and positively impact climate change. Through a unique incentive system called the Green Cart, children who are Kids4abetterworld members can earn points for their Eco- friendly activities such as recycling, reducing single use plastic, saving water and energy at home and planting trees in order to redeem instant rewards. This system motivates children and rewards behavioural change as they track their progress against defined goals and reduce their individual carbon footprint. K4B World has also recently launched a Carbon Calculator in partnership with AQ Green TeC to enable children to become aware of their own carbon footprint in order to drive sustainable behaviour. By conducting workshops at schools , Kids4abetterworld promotes its projects and encourages children to become Eco Warriors. The organization has included Children of Determination creating workshops specifically designed to help them participate in protecting the environment.

Sagarika is deeply committed towards enabling climate education in UAE school and believes that while children are the most threatened by the effects of climate change, most children do not participate in climate change discussions or take actions to live more sustainably because they do not have the awareness and capability to do so. Climate education is no longer an option but a necessity in our education and Kids4abetterworld would like to work towards educating children so that they tackle the problem from the start and children learn to adopt sustainability as a lifestyle. Today with over 137,000 visitors to its platform and growing media presence, Kids4aBetterWorld is also a member of UNESCO and CRI #LearningPlanet .

Apart from completing her A Levels at school, Sagarika is a Child Advisor with the UN CRC (Child Rights Committee) and a Climate Adviser with CRIN (Child Rights International Network), a UK based NGO working with UNICEF. Her work in climate action been widely recognised in the UAE and globally by the UNEP. She is also on the board of The Earth Prize as a Youth Member. The Earth Prize is a global sustainability prize for educators and teenagers. Sagarika is also a lifetime fellow of the Villars Institute, Switzerland in recognition of her as a future leader with the greatest potential to drive systemic change.

Her work in climate action has received extensive global media coverage including a recent EXPO 2020 CNN panel in conversation with Becky Anderson on the role of Youth in addressing climate change and a recent story by TIME magazine on her work to promote sustainability. She was also featured as a Discovery Series – Changemaker from the UAE. Extensive global media coverage has enabled Sagarika to to connect with several young people all over the world fighting climate change.

In her role as an Ambassador for the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Sagarika is part of the Global Advisory team working towards the development of General Comment 26, an
authoritative guidance created for UN Member states to protect children’s environmental rights in the face of environmental challenges and climate change. She was recently invited to address COP 27 at Sharm El Sheikh as part of a program dedicated to Youth and Future Generations .