The Cambodian youth are tackling climate change and social action through hip hop.
21-year-old rapper Sang Sok Serey teams up with climate change campaigner Sonita Chin on the new track “Climate,” produced in collaboration with non-profit hip hop organization TinyToones and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), for their “Generation Future” project. “Generation Future” is an initiative by UNICEF wherein young, like-minded individuals with ideas for social change are connected with mentors who can actualize these into solutions.
With the country’s rising interest in hip hop, the genre has now served as a medium for lobbying change. Sang Sok Serey and company’s latest anthem aims to mobilize her countrymen to help mitigate the effects of climate change. The young rapper outlines personal lifestyle changes like planting trees in urban and rural areas and disposing of waste properly, along with the plight of vulnerable sectors like farmers and fisherfolk greatly affected by these environmental issues.
“Climate” premiered through Cambodian music service Pleng and is being broadcast on radio stations countrywide to reach almost 250,000 young people from the ages of 15 to 24. The track also points to the more urgent matter of climate action in developing countries like Cambodia, which ranks at 46 on UNICEF’s Children’s Climate Risk Index.
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In a press release by UNICEF, the organization stated: “The aim is to reach a mass audience of urban and rural Cambodians with the song’s message about the impact of climate change and the practical actions everyone can take to reduce that impact.”
Watch “Climate” below:
