Aeshnina Azzahra Aqilani

What they built

Starting at age 12, Aeshnina "Nina" Azzahra Aqilani discovered illegally dumped foreign plastic waste near her community in Gresik, East Java, Indonesia. She began writing protest letters directly to world leaders — including Donald Trump, Angela Merkel, and Scott Morrison — demanding an end to the export of plastic waste from wealthy nations to Indonesia. She founded and coordinates River Warriors, a youth environmental activist group conducting local river cleanups, youth education programs, and bold international campaigns exposing plastic colonialism. In 2024, she carried suitcases filled with imported waste directly to the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations in Busan, South Korea, to confront policymakers face-to-face. Her sustained advocacy is credited with contributing to the EU Green Deal's upcoming ban on plastic waste exports outside the EU (effective 2027). She has spoken at COP26 in Glasgow, the UN Plastic Treaty negotiations, and the Plastic Health Summit in Amsterdam, and is featured in the documentary "Girls for the Future and Their Fight Against the Global Climate Crisis."

Verified track record

• KidsRights Foundation — 2025 International Children's Peace Prize finalist profile (source)
• EndPlasticSoup — Young Ambassador announcement (Dec 2021, age 14 at time confirmed) (source)
• BreakFreeFromPlastic — action report, Busan negotiations (Mar 2025) (source)
• Amperage — profile with confirmed birthdate May 17 2007 (source)
• Women Mind the Water — artivist series profile (source)
• GlobalChildForum / KidsRights — finalist announcement (Nov 2025) (source)