Young activists from around the world gather at the COP15 in Montreal.

Video. Youth activists from around the world meet at biodiversity summit

As the world's environment ministers try to thrash out a new deal for nature, youth activists gathered at a UN summit in Montreal are making it clear that actions taken today will affect generations to come.

As the world's environment ministers try to thrash out a new deal for nature, youth activists gathered at a UN summit in Montreal are making it clear that actions taken today will affect generations to come.

Prisca Daka, a 31-year-old from Zimbabwe now based in the US, is the regional coordinator for Global Youth Biodiversity Network in Africa.

She works with local communities to help preserve the Samango monkey, a species that is unique to Zimbabwe but whose habitat is being threatened by deforestation and banana plantations.

"We don't talk much about biodiversity, which is the web of life -- everything we see, the air we breathe, the water we drink," she said.

"Extinction is forever, so as young people we're bringing attention to the biodiversity crisis and showing what the future could look like if we do not act now."

As a member of GYBN in Sri Lanka, Eshadi Mendis, 30, focuses on beach and ocean clean-up projects in her island nation.

"Because of the way Sri Lanka is situated, all the inland pollution is going to the sea. So we need to find ways to clean it and stop it," she said.

Unfortunately, she added, awareness about the COP15 summit is limited in her home country, something Mendis is working hard to change.

Bolivian activist Flavia Gonzales studied biology to understand "how I could save nature". Along the way, she realised that the best way was to make people aware of their own relationship with the environment.

"Little by little you see that not only animals are being mistreated, but all of nature is being mistreated," she said. 

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