In a run-down residential compound in Kampala, Vanessa Nakate thrusts her fist in the air as she rallies 30 young demonstrators to defend their planet against climate change.

A wiry and vivacious 23-year-old, Nakate founded a climate education movement last year and has more than 175,000 Twitter followers.

She had hoped to organise a bigger event, but that plan was derailed by COVID-19. Large gatherings are currently banned, and it frustrates her to see how such curbs have slowed the momentum she has built up.

Her mission was given a new urgency by heavy floods that have displaced more than a million people across South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia and parts of Uganda - a region heavily dependent on agriculture.

The floods are linked to a seasonal weather variation that scientists say has been exacerbated by climate change. Warmer seas mean more water in the atmosphere and more rain, and near-surface temperatures in Uganda are also on the rise.

For Nakate, the climate change debate often ignores voices from developing countries bearing the brunt of fallout caused by more industrialised nations.

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