Khanzadi is a survivor of the extreme monsoon rainfall which occurred in Pakistan in 2022 and generated devastating floods that impacted a third of the country, wiped out homes, dams, hospitals, hundreds of kilometers of roads and killed over 1700 people. Khanzadi witnessed the death of her sister and destructions in her community as she was pushed on the roads by the floods, like two million people in her country. This extreme event is attributed to climate change, which made precipitations between 50% and 75% more intense.
“I am Khanzadi Kapri, and I hail from the humble village of Fazal Muhammad Kapri in the taluka of Jhuddo, district Mirpur Khas Sindh. The peoples’ life in the village was very simple yet fulfilling, in the lush greenery of fields where mostly wheat, cotton and sunflower is cultivated.
But in August 2022, there were terrible floods. The Jamrao canal and the Rann of Kachh, which are really important for our town, couldn’t handle the rain. Water overflowed and torrential downpours unleashed their fury, causing floodwaters to engulf vast swathes of land, including my beloved district of Mirpur Khas.
Late at night, I woke up to see water coming into our house. It kept rising, so we gathered essentials and fled to higher ground, abandoning our animals and belongings. The relentless deluge left no corner untouched as it inundated our homes, our fields, and our hopes for the future.
My community found itself thrust into a nightmare of unimaginable proportions. In my own Union Council, 208 villages succumbed to the relentless tide, their residents rendered homeless and helpless in the face of nature’s fury. After that night, it was really tough. We were stuck on the roads with no shelter, enduring the rain and hunger. The streets were empty, shops closed, like they were mourning the flood’s destruction.
During all the chaos, something terrible happened to my family which shattered me into pieces. My sister who was pregnant and about to have a baby died during labor pains as I and my family members couldn’t get her to medical facility. I and my brother tried a lot to reach the nearby basic health facility which was about 15 kilometers away from my village but there was no transportation available, and the flood water was too high to walk through. Losing her hurt us a lot and left a lasting sadness.
When the floodwater went away, everything was damaged and sad. My fertile land was destroyed, and we couldn’t rely on it like before. It was hard to see a way forward, but we still had hope.
With a strong will to start over, I began working hard to help my community bounce back. I used my writing and speaking skills to speak up for those who were struggling. I noticed many women didn’t have sanitary items or proper health care. So, I first gathered food, water, and medicine and organized medical camps.
Even though the flood’s damage stays with us, it reminds us how strong we are when we work together. We won’t let tough times defeat us. Instead, we’ll keep going, aiming for a better future where nothing can dim our hope.”
Elisa and William lost their mother during storm “Alex” which harshly hit France in 2020. The storm caused sudden massive floods that destroyed several valleys in south-eastern France, including the Vésubie Valley where their mother lived. The floods tore down entire bridges, roads and houses, including their mother’s. Her body was only found ten days later by William, who desperately searched the devastated area to find her. They are suing TotalEnergies for involuntary homicide. Storm Alex was a severe extratropical storm attributed to climate change.
“On the afternoon of Friday 2 October 2020, I received a call from my uncle telling me that there were violent storms in the village where my mother lives, and that he had lost telephone contact with her.
I saw the images broadcast by the media and then understood the scale of the disaster. Extremely violent weather had hit the Vésubie valley, causing the Boréon river to rise to insane levels. The MaÏssa bridge had collapsed downstream, swept away by the river and unleashing a veritable tidal wave that swept through the valley, washing away everything in its path. No such event had occurred for a thousand years.
No emergency services were able to provide information on the safety and health of the inhabitants, as access roads and communications were cut off.
The following Monday, my uncle and I decided not to wait any longer and crossed the storm-torn bridge into the village to dispel our doubts. We arrived at around 9am and discovered that my house had completely disappeared. There were no visible foundations; the 3-storey house had been replaced by the riverbed. I honestly had no words to describe what I was seeing and feeling at that exact moment.
Thanks to the last conversations between my uncle and my mother before the telephone network was cut off, we were pretty sure that she hadn’t left her home during the storm, and couldn’t have done so anyway. From that moment on, my concern grew, feeding my obsession with finding my mother’s body.
I decided to stay behind to help the rescuers keep the inhabitants safe as they passed along the damaged bridge leading to the village, and to begin my search. For several days, I scoured the riverbed in search of the slightest trace of life or remnants of my mother’s life, but my search was in vain.
After 13 days, a hitchhiker informed me that a body had been dug up the day before, found as a result of wolves roaming around. The local police then gave me the tragic but reassuring news: the body was indeed that of my mother. She’d been there all this time, just 100m from her home. The emergency services had even found some bodies more than 20km from their last reported location. Before my mother was placed in her coffin, my sister and I caught a glimpse of her hand, or at least what was left of it. It was then that we really realized that our mother had really died.”
Hilda survived cyclone Idai, which displaced millions across several countries in southern Africa in 2019 and was recognized by the World Meoteorological Organization (WMO) as one of the worst disasters in the southern hemisphere. Hilda was affected by the storms and the induced floods, as were her family, friends and village. She is now committed to fighting climate change and to spreading the voice of her community worldwide. The cyclone was made more severe because of climate change.
“That fateful night I realized that climate change is a human right issue. Many were deprived of their right to food, shelter, or proper clothing. It was a very painful experience seeing and thinking that my village, Chimanimani, was now a different place and would never be the same again.
My name is Tinovimbanashe Hilda Tendeukai and I’m a survivor of the devastating Cyclone Idai that took thousands of lives and property worth millions of dollars on March 15th 2019.
That night, I was at home with my twin sister and we decided to sleep early because the rains were very heavy. I was awakened by the ground shaking and the noise outside, resounding lightning and unusually heavy rain. I panicked and went straight at the door but when I stepped out in the dark there was flooding on the road and houses were being washed away. People were crying for help; others were just running up and down in the dark.
We went to a neighbor’s house and stayed for the rest of the night. The only thing I could think of was my tomorrow, whether I was going to survive or not.
In the morning, I went out and it was still raining but to my surprise there was something different within the mountains. The beautiful land of Chimanimani had been turned into a pool of dead bodies, dirty water, destructed property and bridges, mud, and flooding river. People were just running up and down searching for their loved ones and others were trying to give sense to what had happened. The torrent of mud had been diverted and our house spared. Together with my twin, we joined others and evacuated from the devastating land to find our parents back.
In our way, as we helped each other to cross the flooding rivers, my twin sister nearly got washed away by the floods. Thank God she was rescued but her leg was affected. When I arrived at my mother’s place, we all cried because she was so worried about us, having heard what had happened.
When I went back to my village, I heard that one of my closest friends had been washed away by the rains. I cried and prayed to God so that at least her body can be found but all the efforts were in vain. Pain was dominating all over me. Sorrow was now my definition. I had several sleepless nights thinking about what had happened and trying to deal with the pain and trauma.
Now, I am a climate activist and I work so the voice of my community can be heard, to defend the rights of women who got more vulnerable after the cyclone and to ask for climate justice.”
Frank is a survivor of typhoon Rai, known in the Philippines as “Super Typhoon Odette” which struck in December 2021. Frank was in his village of Basilisa, Dinagat, when Super Typhoon Odette unleashed death and destruction. There was no safe refuge, and the aftermath was all the more difficult: months after, more than 2.4 million still needed relief and were left exposed to extreme climate disasters. Typhoon Rai was the second costliest typhoon in Philippine history behind Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. Typhoons are becoming more and more intense with the warming atmosphere.
“My name is Frank Nicol Marba, I am 29 years old and I live in the Dinagat Islands, Philippines. In 2021, I was impacted by Odette Typhoon that heavily struck my village and many islands in the Philippines.
Like other Filipinos, I eagerly look forward to December because it is a time for family get-togethers and festivities. I took a leave from work and headed home, excited to celebrate the Christmas season with my grandmother.
The day before Odette landed, everything seemed normal and peaceful. We are used to typhoons, so we thought Odette was just like any other typhoon that hit us in the past.
But panic came rushing in when the weather turned severe in the afternoon of 16 December 2024. My grandmother and I, hoping the storm would soon end, stayed in the kitchen area because it was the sturdiest part of the house. But Odette barreled through; the sudden and unexpected strong winds, torrential rains, and storm surge left us with no choice but to evacuate to a relative’s house a few meters away from our home.
However, we were not safe there either. Odette’s strong winds ripped off its roof, detached the main door from its frame, threw it several feet away, and shattered glass windows. In one instance, a corrugated sheet from the neighbor’s house flew toward us. At that moment, I had already accepted my fate, thinking that we would die.
When Odette reached its peak, the pressure caused the floor and the house to tremble and vibrate. I felt incredibly helpless at that moment. I was shivering in the cold and enduring pain from multiple foot lacerations due to broken glass on the floor. My nerves were on edge as I knew that the house we were staying in was on the verge of collapsing.
After the storm had passed, we could not go out because it was pitch black, and we could not see anything. We tried to sleep on the floorboards with our drenched clothes, hungry and terrified. It was the longest sixteen hours of my life.
But what affected me most was the sight of my beloved and very strong grandmother who was in complete exhaustion; she became so weak that I worried so much.
Odette’s destruction was visible in the morning; houses were practically hammered to the ground. People were cold, starving, and broken. We could not access drinking water, food, or electricity, and communication lines were disconnected. News reports about people who died in our community added to my anxiety.
After a month of returning to our destroyed house, my grandmother got sick. The living conditions - living in a shattered house, worrying about how to get by, trying to move on and yet seeing everything around her destroyed, losing everything - were unbearable for her.”
Jann is a survivor of the bushfires that ravaged Australia from October 2019 to February 2020 on an unprecedented scale. She had to evacuate her house in Victoria, which she lost, while surrounded by the megafires. Witnessing the environmental catastrophe caused by the “Black Summer“ bushfires which tore apart the Southeast coast of Australia was unbearable. The sun did not show for sixteen days. Three billion animals were affected and over 140 million mammals died, including more than 61,000 koalas. Thousands of birds suffocated because of the smoke. Ash washed up on the shore for months. One-fifth of the country’s forests were destroyed. Jann participates in a class action case asking the Australian government to tackle climate change. The 2019/2020 bushfires are considered one of the ‘worst wildlife disasters in modern history’. Their intensity and increased probability are attributed to climate change.
“On new year’s eve in 2019 my life was changed forever. For around a decade I had been observing the impacts of climate change on the seabird species I studied and advocating for action but, on that night, climate change arrived at my door. Literally.
Mallacoota, where I live, is a small, remote town on the Wilderness Coast in southeastern Australia, with a resident population of around 1200 people. Encircled by Croajingalong National Park it’s one of the last remaining totally wild areas in the country, supporting high terrestrial and marine biodiversity. Or at least, it did.
A couple of days before NYE 2019 a fire to the west, started by dry lightning in a remote and inaccessible part of the forest, quickly became an inferno heading straight towards us. Fuelled by years of drought and increasing temperatures as a result of climate change, that fire joined with two others coming from the north to produce one of the most devastating fire events in what became known as Australia’s Black Summer.
Evacuated to the wharf by emergency services, on the shores of the Bottom Lake of Mallacoota inlet, the night and day I spent there was a horrifying ordeal. The fire had surrounded the town, at one point coming within 150–200 m of the wharf, on the opposite bank of the lake.
The sights, smells and sounds from that event are etched into my brain. The howling wind, the roar of the flames, and the constantly choking smoke that burned the back of your throat and left eyes red and inflamed.
Rumours of the destruction from the fires were circulating among locals on the wharf. It was difficult to know what scenes we’d be confronted with when we were finally allowed to leave. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw.
Losing my house (along with 126 others in the town) was tough and none of us will forget that but it was the devastation to the environment and wildlife that broke my heart. For 2–3 weeks after the fires the sound of rifles rang out as animals with injuries considered fatal were released from their suffering. It’s estimated that over 3 billion animals died in Black Summer.
The rising anger I felt on that wharf – about governments that fail to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for the climate pollution they create, about the ‘climate wars’ created by politicians, and the ‘greenwashing’ participated in by both – is what drives my participation in this case. If we can’t rely on governments to legislate protection of the natural world that we all rely on, then we must look to the judiciary.”
Elisa and William lost their mother during storm “Alex” which harshly hit France in 2020. The storm caused sudden massive floods that destroyed several valleys in south-eastern France, including the Vésubie Valley where their mother lived. The floods tore down entire bridges, roads and houses, including their mother’s. Élisa, who lives in Canada, helped her brother on the ground to search for their storm-torn home and their mother's body using videos found online. They are suing TotalEnergies for involuntary homicide. Storm Alex was a severe extratropical storm attributed to climate change.
“On Saturday 3 October, 2020, my brother called to tell me that a violent storm had hit Saint-Martin-Vésubie and that our mother hadn’t answered her phone since the day before. Her house, in the middle of the valley, was threatened by the rising waters of the Boréon, a river that had become an incredible torrent of mud, rocks and tree trunks in just a few hours.
When she spoke to my uncle on the afternoon of 2 October, she told him that her car would soon be washed away, then after about 4pm there was no news. My mother stayed in her house, thinking she was safe.
For the first few days, I made regular calls to the dedicated line in Nice for the list of people rescued. She still didn’t appear. From Canada, I continued to search desperately for any video that would show me a view of the house, or what might be left of it.
On the morning of Monday 5 October, with the access roads to the village destroyed and communications still cut off with the village, my brother and uncle climbed up the mountain paths to see if the house and our mother were still there. We desperately needed to know. I waited anxiously, and it was only when my brother went further up the mountain to find signal that he was able to call me, send me some pictures and tell me that the house was no longer there.
The three-storey house had completely disappeared. It was completely razed to the ground, with not even a trace of the foundations. The bed of the Boréon river, now displaced, passed where the house once stood. What little hope I had left evaporated in an instant, leaving me with the immense need to find my mother’s body or even something from the house. A few days later, the rescuers had decided to search further down the valley. I had the sinking feeling that my mother’s body would never be found.
A neighbor who survived and whose house, half torn down, was a little lower than my mother’s, had seen wolves prowling around his house on many occasions. These wolves had smelt my mother’s decomposing body, and her body was dug up with a shovel after 13 days in the ground. We were speechless, like a disaster movie, it was hard to imagine that this was our reality now.
Two days before the storm, I had a video call with my mother, who showed me the raspberries she had picked from her garden, and I showed her twelve-day old grandson. The trauma caused by the brutality of this event is permanently ingrained in me.”
Survivor of the tragic flash floods that impacted northern Europe (Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) in the summer 2021, Benjamin risked his life trying to save his 15-year-old friend Rosa, who was swept away by the sudden violent mass of water. He has been affected ever since and has started a non-profit called « Climate Justice for Rosa » that is devoted to raising awareness about the human and environmental toll of the climate disruption worldwide, in commemoration of climate change victims. The 2021 floods that hit Belgium and other countries have been recognized to be up to 20% more intense and nine times more probable because of climate change, which they are attributed to.
“I’m Benjamin Van Bunderen Robberechts, I’m 17 years old and live in Dworp, Belgium.
On the 14th of July 2021 I was at a summer camp for ambitious teenagers in Marcourt, Belgium. The camp’s main purpose was to select teenagers who would get a scholarship to study abroad for their two last years of secondary education. At the camp, I met Rosa. Rosa was 15 and shared my belief that young people could change the world.
It was raining but we didn’t care, we were happy. At the end of the afternoon, the water level of the stream close to the house where we were staying suddenly started to rise. We could see the water rising and rising second by second. We went outside to join a building further up the hill. As we were walking on the grass, we could feel the water on our feet.
Suddenly there was a lot more water, the river began to overflow and the bank of the stream where we were standing collapsed. I saw Rosa fall into the water, just a few meters away from me. I didn’t think twice, I ran towards the water and jumped in to catch her.
The water was no longer water but a raging brown monster dragging us along. After a while, we were dragged underwater. Suddenly I was hit in the chest by a pole sticking out of the ground. I grabbed it with one arm. I held Rosa with the other. I held onto her until the monster pulled her away from me. Her body was found three days later.
The days, weeks, and months after Rosa’s death were hell for me. I locked myself in my room. Not only had Rosa died but she had died of the one thing I have been warning about for years, I have been attending climate strikes since 2018.
The floods that killed Rosa and 220 other people were not a natural event. Climate scientists agree that the extreme precipitation that caused them was made up to 20% more intense and 9 times more likely because of human-induced climate change.
The scars of that tragic day will never heal, certain things that remind me of the flooding cause me to have panic attacks and my life will forever be different from what I had planned.
While I will forever carry with me that I was unable to save Rosa, I am resolved to honor her memory by dedicating myself to preventing further tragedies. I will do everything in my power to combat the climate crisis and hold those responsible accountable. We must recognize the human toll of the climate crisis; it is not merely a matter of statistics but of lives lost and futures shattered.”
Alexandros survived wildfires that ravaged Greece in July/early August 2021 as a result of an extreme heatwave and drought. He and his family only narrowly managed to escape the fire. With other young people hit by climate disasters, Alexandros has already taken legal action with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against European governments for allowing the Energy Charter Treaty, which protects fossil fuel investments and impedes transitioning away from them. The 2021 heatwave and wildfires in Greece are attributed to climate change
“I am Alexandros, 24 years old and I live in Greece while studying in Amsterdam. In July 2021, I had to flee a wildfire in Attiki.
In the midst of summer holidays, it is a day I am enjoying being back home after a year of studies in the UK. But I receive a text from the Ministry of Civil Protection saying that there is a fire nearby and that I should close the windows because of the smoke and burning pieces that could enter the house. We then realize that we can smell the fire, see the smoke, hear sirens. We are getting worried and think we should leave. I have barely taken anything from my room as I have no time, but I realize I might never see it again.
Outside, many cars are attempting to flee like us. The smoke is rising behind us. The situation is very tense and stressful, the road is very congested. I am not sure how close the fire is to me, my family, and my house. I do not know if I will have a house to return to.
We managed to safely drive away. In the evening, we learn that is safe again, so we return there in the evening. Some homes and cars have burned, the nearby pine forest has turned into ashes. It is very stressful to see all this damage, and knowing that the hotter and drier my region gets, the higher the risks of fires.
It is very scary that now, every year when the summer approaches, I am thinking: this may be now that my house, my neighborhood burn and that me and my family get injured, that we asphyxiate in the smoke. I really don’t want that to happen.”
BLOOM is a Paris-Based non-profit organization which was founded in 2005 by Claire Nouvian, winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2018. BLOOM is entirely devoted to the protection of the ocean and the climate. BLOOM has won landmark victories such as a European-wide ban on deep-sea bottom trawling in 2016 or the prohibition across the EU of electric fishing in 2019. BLOOM initiated and coordinated this collective litigation against TotalEnergies.
Claire Nouvian, Founder and director of BLOOM
Hadrien Goux, Fossil fuel campaign officer, BLOOM
“What is specific about the time we live in and what our litigation is trying to bridge is the gap that exists between the absolute scientific certainty of who bears the responsibility for the destruction of the world by climate change and the absence of clear sentencing by Courts against climate crimes. We think time has come for judges to limit the devastation power of mutinationals.”
Alliance Santé Planétaire was started by health professionals who have come together to advocate for the recognition of climate change as the worst contemporary threat to public health. The aim of the Planetary Health principles they promote is to understand the links between human activities that modify the environment and the consequences for the health of humans and ecosystems.
Hafsah Hachad, Co-founder and member of Alliance Santé Planétaire
Nuestro Futuro is a Mexican NGO that promotes climate change adaptation and mitigation actions, engaging in strategic legal battles to improve environmental protection for future generations. Among others, Nuestro Futuro is legally accompanying the community of El Bosque, Tabasco, Mexico, who have been recognized as climate displaced persons due to coastal erosion and rising sea levels, ensuring their just relocation and addressing systematic violations of their human rights, including the rights to water, food, housing, and a healthy environment.
Nora Cabrera Velasco, Co-founder and director of Nuestro Futuro
As the climate crisis escalates, protecting our environment and advancing climate justice become crucial to ensuring a sustainable and fair future for all living beings. Our mission is not just about environmental advocacy; it’s a fight for survival, urging us to act decisively to safeguard our planet and its inhabitants. TotalEnergies and similar corporations are major contributors to this climate catastrophe, undermining ecosystem stability and the survival of communities globally. For today’s youth and future generations, especially in Mexico, we demand an immediate cessation of practices that threaten our future.”
NGOs supporting our climate litigation
