Vanessa Nakate, 25, is a Ugandan climate justice activist and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Inspired by Greta Thunberg, she was Uganda's first youth climate striker, and went on to found the Rise Up Movement - a movement of young people protesting for climate action across Africa. Previously, she spearheaded a campaign to stop deforestation in the Congo rainforest.

In 2020, Vanessa received global attention after being cropped out of a press photo, taken with other white climate activists, at the World Economic Forum. She now campaigns internationally to highlight the impacts of climate change already playing out on the continent. Vanessa is the author of ‘A Bigger Picture’.

Nakate was named a Young Leader of the Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations in 2020 and was featured on TIME magazine's list of the world’s most influential emerging leaders in 2021.