16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg has been nominated for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for her work in advancing public awareness of climate change. Thunberg is behind the Fridays For The Future movement that inspired students around to world to protest global warming by staging school walkouts on Fridays. 

“We have proposed Greta Thunberg because if we do nothing to halt climate change, it will be the cause of wars, conflict and refugees,” explains Norwegian Member of Parliament Freddy Andre Ovstegard, one of three Norwegian MPs to put forward the nomination. “Greta Thunberg has launched a mass movement which I see as a major contribution to peace.”

Thunberg tweeted on March 14 that she was “honoured and very grateful for this nomination.” She also spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, saying that “on climate change, we have to acknowledge that we have failed.

The Nobel Peace Prize, instituted by Alfred Bernhard Nobel in 1901, is awarded to individuals who have “done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses,” along with parallel awards for Chemistry, Physics, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature.

There are currently 301 nominees for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, including 223 individuals and 78 organizations, the fourth-largest number since 2016. Up to three individuals can share the Prize, of which also comes with 9 million Swedish kronor (SEK) ($975,000 USD), intended to aid in furthering the work of the recipient, although there are no rules on how they are expected to use the money. If Thunberg wins this year’s Peace Prize, it would make her the youngest recipient since female education activist Malala Yousafzai received the honor in 2014, when she was just 17.

Image Credit: BBC.com

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