Ayisha Siddiqa

Ayisha Siddiqa is a Climate Advisor to the UN Secretary General and a TIME "Women of the Year," 2023.  A Pakistani-American and tribal Pakistani, Ayisha is a trailblazer in the fight against climate change.  Ayisha's work transcends borders, uplifting the rights of marginalized communities and challenging polluters on a global scale.  Her multifaceted approach to climate justice, blending activism with art through poetry, adds a unique voice to the environmental movement. Her work embodies the intersection of human rights and environmental stewardship.

With co-founding roles at Polluters Out and Fossil Free University, Ayisha has been at the forefront of climate activism, organizing school strikes that have mobilized hundreds of thousands of young people globally. She campaigns for human rights, climate finance, and indigenous peoples' rights. 

As a fellow at the Climate Litigation Accelerator at the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University School of Law, Ayisha is serving as the project manager of the “Future Generations Tribunal.” The Tribunal is a series of hearings that will be held all over the world to collect witness testimonies from young people, mothers, and children with the primary question “What rights have to be established today to protect generations to come.” She sits on the board of the Home Planet Fund and is on the Steering Committee of the Youth Climate Justice Fund. Ayisha was recognized on the cover of TIME magazine, as one of the Women of the Year 2023. Ayisha has contributed a chapter in “The Revolution will not be Litigated” and “The climate book by Greta Thunberg.” 

Her recent efforts include advancing mechanisms between environmental and human rights law as a Research Scholar at the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University. Ayisha has directed and led campaign efforts at the international level to help achieve victories such as the Loss and Damage Fund at COP28. Her expertise in lobbying around climate negotiations has earned her recognition as a strategist among national and youth delegations in the UNFCCC.

LECTURE TOPICS (Partial List):

•  My View of the Climate Crisis: From A Tribal Village in Pakistan to New York City - Discrimination based on Gender, Race & Class

•  A Letter to the Living: Our Environtmental Challenge - Can we Prevent Unimaginable Loss & Damage?

•   Climate Anxiety is Not An Illness in Itself: It is Real - A look at the Illness of the System

•  Unimaginable Loss and Damage: The 2023 Flood in Pakistan and What it Means For The Rest of Us.

•  Polluters Out: the conflicts of interest of the Fossil Fuel Industry in Climate Negotiations 

•  Securing the Rights of Future Generations