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Mariam AlSaad on Global Warming and Youth-Led Climate Action in Kuwait

As the country faces record-breaking temperatures, young people are driving the climate conversation.

Mariam AlSaad on Global Warming and Youth-Led Climate Action in Kuwait
Left: Mariam AlSaad; Right: Participants at AlManakh's 2023 climate education and internship program. Photos courtesy of AlManakh.

Mariam AlSaad, a 27-year-old Kuwaiti civil and structural engineer, launched one of her nation’s first environmental advocacy organizations, AlManakh, meaning “The Climate,” in 2021. 

At the time, she had just completed her master’s degree in sustainable cities at the University of Leeds and was working in the design department at Kuwait’s Ministry of Public Works. “I was really frustrated because there wasn’t a lot of attention to the topic of sustainability,” she said. “So I was like, ‘Okay, there has to be someone to start some kind of conversation about this in a very serious way.’”

AlManakh launched as a forum for that conversation, providing resources in Arabic and English about the effects of climate change in Kuwait. The organization runs social media campaigns and hosts free educational events for companies interested in sustainable business practices, as well as school groups that lack environmental themes in their standard curriculum.

Launching a climate-focused non-governmental organization in Kuwait was not without risk. The nation has restrictive legislation that limits the right to form and join civil society organizations. Global warming, in particular, is a contentious issue in Kuwait, where the oil sector accounts for about 90 percent of the country’s export revenue and exercises considerable influence on national politics.

Still, Kuwaitis have an appetite for AlManakh’s style of accessible and engaging climate education rooted in their local context. Four years after its launch, AlManakh now works with over 30 partners in Kuwait, including the World Health Organization.

“AlManakh is, I’m proud to say, one of the most prominent spaces in Kuwait for climate action, especially for young people,” AlSaad said. She left her job at the Ministry of Public Works to run the organization full-time in 2023. We spoke in June 2025 about how the effects of climate change are already being felt in the region, the state of sustainability and environmental advocacy in Kuwait, and the importance of youth-led action. 

Editor’s note: These responses have been condensed and edited for clarity.

Marianne Dhenin: For starters, what’s the state of environmental advocacy and climate change adaptation efforts in Kuwait right now?

Mariam AlSaad: There are multiple aspects to this. From a cultural perspective, Kuwaitis are not generally very interested in environmentalism. The people who attend our events or volunteer with us tend to already have a background in [environmental issues]. We enter different communities that may not be as familiar with it, and we aim to target individuals who might not be aware of it, as we strive to be intersectional in our outreach. But culturally, the environment isn’t really something that’s taken seriously in Kuwait. People are like, “Well, who cares about the environment? We have other things to be worried about. We have to focus on the dissolution of the parliament or economic issues.” It’s not like it’s really a choice. It’s more like, “I just can’t deal with this right now.”

Then there’s the issue of no real educational content on environmental issues or climate change. There is no comprehensive education on climate change in Kuwait, whether that’s elementary through high school or at the university level. I went to public school and learned nothing about it. Usually, the private schools are a little better; they promote sustainability because it’s part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and they want to include that. Then, when we’re brought in to speak to students at universities, whether it’s Kuwait University or some of the private universities in Kuwait, there’s usually only something related in the curriculum, like marine biology or something. But it is usually taught as a global-scale thing; it’s never taught in a Kuwaiti context.

Then, the last part is that the government is inactive in this department, and for the Kuwaiti context, that affects everything. If the government doesn’t care, people generally won’t care. The government has set mandates, like there was a pledge, for Kuwait to be carbon neutral by 2050, but it’s not practical, and the government isn’t following through. We’ve been having significant issues, like electricity blackouts. They’re talking about sustainability and carbon neutrality but falling behind on the basics, like the minimum requirements for just operating, let alone being sustainable.

Still, climate action is incredibly important for the region, and Kuwait especially, as it is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries globally and is already significantly experiencing the impacts of climate change on a daily basis.

MD: You mentioned recent rolling blackouts in Kuwait, the result of surging demand during record-breaking heat waves outstripping supply and straining aging infrastructure. How else are the effects of climate change and inaction already being experienced in the country, and by whom?

MA: There are people who have dealt with the implications of climate change now for tens of years in Kuwait, like migrant workers, people who have disabilities, people with low socioeconomic statuses, and stateless people. These communities have been dealing with climate change issues, but that hasn’t been exposed or talked about in the general Kuwaiti community or society because they’re minoritized, despite migrant workers being over 70 percent of the population. That’s where structural racism comes in, in that these issues are disregarded for this huge chunk of the population. 

Migrant workers are some of the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change because of their lack of access to healthcare or air conditioning and also because of the jobs that they have—whether doing outdoor work, like hard labor, working construction, or deliveries, working on a motorcycle for more than ten hours per day in the sun. Some live in areas where the infrastructure has been damaged because of flash flooding. They also face extreme heat and dust living in run-down buildings where there’s nothing to protect them, and those things create massive cardiovascular issues, massive respiratory issues, and have a big impact on their physical and mental well-being.

MD: Do you think there’s a sense of grief or fear about climate change in Kuwait? 

MA: Yeah, I mean, some younger people have really given up and feel a lot of despair. Since I was a kid, I have been hearing people older than me talking about how disappointed they were [with governance in Kuwait], so this is a very common experience, I think. Then, with the climate crisis, there’s so much demand from younger people to make changes. We even issued a national youth statement with climate action demands and handed it to the Kuwait Youth Public Authority, but they’re not going to do anything with it. So, there’s a general feeling of disappointment and grief over the future—our future.

MD: The Arab Youth Council for Climate Change is one arena where young people in the region are channeling their grief into climate action. What has your experience been like on the council?

MA: My experience at AYCCC has been great. The council is very committed to climate action and advancing conservation through youth empowerment and involvement with the cause. The council has provided me with several opportunities to engage with important stakeholders in the region who are working in policy, government, research, and civil society. It’s given me a great deal of confidence in being able to navigate the climate scene and work with experts in the field.

MD: Finally, how do you see your work with AlManakh building a youth-led climate movement in Kuwait?

MA: Climate education, awareness, and community mobilization and engagement are essential to driving community-led change and ultimately increasing social awareness regarding the topic. In Kuwait, policy can be and has been, at times, influenced by sociopolitical elements and public engagement, so getting the public engaged in climate action is important. AlManakh being youth-led is a strength because young people have a lot of passion and drive, and are highly educated on the topic of climate change, allowing us to be at the forefront of the climate dialogue.

For more on global warming and climate action in Kuwait, AlSaad suggests: