At HelpAge, we are calling for the voices of older people to be heard in the climate change debate. Voices of people like Daisy, below, who is 55 with six children and two grandchildren.

She grows crops and looks after chickens to earn a living and is very aware of the changing climate. She says: “Climate change is affecting food production, we don’t produce enough food.”

The camera may be shaky, but the evidence stands firm. Older people have views on climate change and want to be heard.  Watch the clip and listen to Daisy.

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Since stories of the current drought in Ethiopia and its impact have started filtering through in the media, comparisons have been made with the events that inspired Live Aid almost 25 years ago.

This time, however, the focus and apparent cause of increasing and longer droughts is climate change. This is particularly noticeable in the run up to the climate change conference in Copenhagen, as the development world is awash with climate change policy, campaigns and petitions.
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A group of young men jeered when they saw the HelpAge International logo on the side of our vehicle: “Here come the old people’s organisation! We have lots of old people here – what are you going to do for them?”

Sadly, this was not the first time we had encountered this kind of cynicism. In drought-ravaged Turkana, northern Kenya, older people are often seen as a burden, beyond help or simply not a priority. “Survival of the fittest” is the order of the day in Turkana and older people are struggling to cope.

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