All across the world, young people are mobilising to force world leaders to pay attention to climate change: one of the defining issues of our time. Here are five young activists on the front line in the climate battle.

Isra Hirsi

Isra Hirsi is an 18-year-old climate activist from Minnesota, USA. Her experiences as a black woman have compelled her to bring vital conversations about intersectionality to the movement for climate justice.

Joining her high school's environmental club as a first-year, Isra Hirsi quickly realised she had to establish a new kind of discourse, in a movement dominated by white voices. One of Hirsi's key contributions to the climate conversation has been to highlight the emphasis on connection to nature that white climate activism encourages, something which people from lower income backgrounds are often unable to relate to. Green spaces are accessible only to those with the privilege to reach them, and hinging the climate justice movement on emotional connection to fields, forests and landscapes ostracises those who haven't had the opportunity to build those relationships.

Now, as the co-founder and co-executive director of US Youth Climate Strike, Hirsi has organised countless strike actions, in order to pressure political leaders in Minnesota and the wider US to back measures to tackle the climate crisis. The Green New Deal touted by Democrats such as Ilhan Omar (her mother) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is one in which she sees some hope, and Hirsi's has used her voice to encourage broader support for the measures involved.

Coming from a immigrant Muslim background, Isra's fight to make climate-conscious spaces more diverse and welcoming is a crucial one. Undoubtedly, she is a young climate activist you need to know.

Twitter: @israhirsi

Holly Gillibrand

Holly Gillibrand is a 16-year-old climate activist from Scotland. Living amongst the vast landscapes of the Scottish Highlands has inspired her to protect wild spaces, and organise others to do the same.

Joining the Fridays for Future strikes at 13 (inspired by Greta Thunberg), Gillibrand's experiences in the grassroots youth climate movement have led her perspective that climate justice will happen from the ground up, rather than the other way around. The COP26 talks happening nearby in Glasgow might seem an important opportunity for her to exploit, but Gillibrand isn't pinning her hopes on world leaders to make changes; she thinks they will come from community strikes and protest groups to pressure politicians into change. Gillibrand also points to land ownership in Scotland, and the lack of impetus wealthy landowners have to use their property in more sustainable ways. When land is owned instead by grassroots organisations, such as Langholm Moor Community Buyout, the change starts to happen.

Rewilding is a key part of the climate conversation in Scotland, and Gillibrand has made her mark here too. She believes that political leaders place too much emphasis on simple measures to reduce carbon footprints, and instead points to ways that the various factors around climate change are interconnected. By reintroducing native species, Gillibrand hopes that natural habitats can flourish as they once did, and can thus draw carbon out of the atmosphere. 

With an eye on natural landscapes, and an understanding of the complexities of the struggle against climate change, Holly Gillibrand is a young climate activist you need to know.

Twitter: @HollyWildChild

Leah Namugerwa

Leah Namugerwa is 19-year-old climate activist from Uganda. In a country witnessing some of global warming's harshest effects, she is striving to compel local people into action.

Whilst many in the West still see climate change as a problem of the future, the last twenty years has seen Uganda experience drought, environmental degradation, agricultural failure, increased mosquito numbers and so much more. Fighting for climate justice in this environment, Leah Namugerwa doesn't have the luxury of time. However, this doesn't mean people in Uganda overall are more easy to engage in climate issues. Namugerwa still has to fight to make people take action, against obstacles including a population focused on their own livelihoods, and a government that has a zero-tolerance approach toward dissent.

In spite of all of this, Namugerwa is hopeful that climate awareness can spread across Uganda. She currently is driving a tree-planting initiative and pushing for the country to ban plastic bags, goals she believes are within reach. She is also an ambassador for Greta Thunberg's #fridaysforfuture, and has spoken about her perspective on climate change across the world. 

With a full view of the front line in the climate change battle, and a will to continue despite poorly stacked odds, Leah Namugerwa is a young climate activist you need to know.

Twitter: @leahinitiative

Autumn Peltier

Autumn Peltier is a 16-year-old climate activist from Manitoulin Island, Canada. With a clear connection to the environment through her indigenous heritage, Peltier focuses her activism on the struggle for clean water.

Part of the Wiikwemkoong First Nation, Autumn Peltier has a unique connection to the land and water. Indigenous groups such as the Wiikwemkoong have lived sustainably on the land for centuries, and their struggle to reconnect with their natural resources is one that should be at the centre of climate change conversation.

As an ambassador for her people, Peltier has spoken about their plight at events including the Assembly of First Nations annual winter meeting, and UN World Water Day. At the former event, she presented a ceremonial copper bowl to Canadian president Justin Trudeau, as a symbol over his stewardship over the country's water supply. Her feelings about his role so far were made clear with a simple statement: 'I am very unhappy with the choices you've made'. In recognition of Peltier's achievements, bringing the struggle for water to a wider audience, the Assembly of First nations designated her the official title 'water protector.'

Now, Peltier is casting her gaze further, to struggles of people all across the globe to reclaim their water supplies, and other natural resources. Representing a key issue in the climate justice movement, Autumn Peltier is a young climate activist you need to know.

Lance Lau

Lance Lau is a 12-year-old climate activist from Hong Kong. A relatively new face on the climate justice scene, Lance has particular interest in animal conservation and green architecture.

Inspired by Greta Thunberg, and leading the #FridaysForFuture movement in Hong Kong, Lance Lau's school strikes and placards initially captured the imagination of the Hong Kong national media. A keen activist, Lau quickly became a familiar presence at events including protests, beach cleans and summits. He is a big proponent of solo-striking, and believes that engaging the community with small actions is a very effective route to more widespread understanding of the issues.

Lau is particularly concerned with the plight of Hong Kong's endangered animal populations. Plagued by plastic pollution, the island's dolphin populations are at severe risk, both from waste in the oceans and large-scale government redevelopment projects such as Lantau Tomorrow Vision. Lau sees an irony here; he and his classmates are told to recycle to save the dolphins, yet the government makes infrastructure decisions that put them in existential danger.

Projects like Lantau Tomorrow Vision have propelled Lance Lau's ambition to become a green architect. Lau thinks infrastructure should work alongside the environment, not against it, and that greener solutions to Hong Kong's housing crisis are not just possible; they're necessary. A bright new voice in the movement, Lance Lau is a young climate activist you need to know.