Kehkashan Basu MSM (born June 5, 2000) is a Canadian environmental and human rights activist from the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

. Basu also advocates for peace, children’s rights, education for sustainable development, nuclear disarmament, gender equality and climate justice. She is the Founder-President of Green Hope Foundation, the youngest Councillor of World Future Council, the youngest Trustee of the Parliament of the World's Religions, a

KidsRights The KidsRights Foundation is an international children's aid and advocacy organisation based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The foundation was founded in 2003, by Marc Dullaert and Inge Ikink. KidsRights raises funds for independent local aid pr ...

Youngsters member, and winner of the International Children's Peace Prize 2016.

Biography

Kehkashan was born on June 5 in Dubai to Indian parents from

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. At age 8, she was planting trees and organizing young people to

recycle Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...

. At age 11, she addressed the TUNZA Children and Youth Conference in Indonesia, and the next year she set a record as the youngest delegate to speak at a

press conference A press conference or news conference is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicians, corporations, non-governmental organ ...

at the

United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), also known as Rio 2012, Rio+20 (), or Earth Summit 2012 was the third international conference on sustainable development aimed at reconciling the economic and environmental goals ...

(Rio+20). She founded the Green Hope Foundation in 2012, with the goal of teaching and implementing the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including through grassroots action such as

tree planting Tree-planting is the process of transplanting tree seedlings, generally for forestry, land reclamation, or landscaping purpose. It differs from the transplantation of larger trees in arboriculture, and from the lower cost but slower and less re ...

. The organization also involves young people globally in the SDGs through community-focused projects in climate justice, halting land degradation, promoting sustainable consumption and renewable energy, and conserving biodiversity, as well as gender equality and social justice. Currently with more than 3000 members in total, across

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, Suriname,

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

, Australia,

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

The Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, ...

, Sweden,

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

, Sri Lanka,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Kiribati Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),Kiribati
''The Wor ...

and Liberia, the organization works by conducting workshops and conferences around the implementation of the SDGs. Basu attended the Deira International School in Dubai and graduated from the

North Toronto Collegiate Institute North Toronto Collegiate Institute (North Toronto CI, NTCI, NT, or North Toronto) is a non-semestered, public high school institution with over 1,200 students located in North Toronto area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The school is operated an ...

in Toronto, Canada. In June 2022, she graduated from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

with an Honours

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

with High Distinction, where she majored in environmental studies, double-minoring in women and gender studies and physical and environmental geography. Basu is currently an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

student at the

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management The Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management is the graduate business school in the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University, a private Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York. It was founded in 1946 and ren ...

. In 2017, she published the short story book "The Tree of Hope", in collaboration with the illustrator Karen Webb-Meek. In the book, a young girl creates an oasis in a desert by planting trees and persuading friends to help. In 2021, Basu was a keynote speaker at the first annual Peace Education Day Conference, held virtually.

Awards and recognition

* Basu won the International Children's Peace Prize in 2016. * Basu was recognized as a UN Human Rights Champion in 2016. *Basu was named as one of Canada's Top 25 Women of Influence in 2018. * Basu was listed as a National Geographic Young Explorer in spring 2020. *Basu was named as a

Forbes 30 Under 30 ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 is a set of lists of people under 30 years old issued annually by ''Forbes'' magazine and some of its regional editions. The American lists recognize 600 business and industry figures, with 30 selected in twenty industries ...

in 2021 – the youngest in the category of Education. *Basu won the World Literacy Award for Significant Contribution to Literacy by a Youth in 2021. *Basu was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal of Canada (Civil Division) in 2022.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Basu, Kehkashan Living people 2000 births People from Dubai Activists from Toronto Indian emigrants to Canada Indian women environmentalists Indian environmentalists Indian women activists Canadian women environmentalists Canadian environmentalists Canadian women activists Women environmentalists Canadian people of Bengali descent Canadian people of Indian descent University of Toronto alumni Canadian expatriates in the United Arab Emirates Women human rights activists Children's rights activists 21st-century Canadian women