Ms Thunberg, 16, rose to fame last year after taking every Friday off school to campaign outside the Swedish parliament, in favour of tackling climate change. While she started off campaigning alone, photographs of her protest soon sparked international interest. The Swedish activist was then supported by keen activists across the globe and her initiative rapidly expanded into an international march called the Global Climate Strike.

People from more than 120 countries joined in with the protest in March. A second was held in May in the hope of disrupting the European Parliament election, and a third took place last Friday.

As a result, Ms Thunberg has become a symbol of environmental activism and only this week made headlines again when she attended the UN’s Climate action Summit in New York.

She passionately told world leaders that they “have stolen my dreams and my childhood” by failing to act on climate change and that “the eyes of all future generations are upon you”.

However, Ms Thunberg is not the only young girl to have addressed the UN over environmental concerns.

Another girl paved the way for the young Swedish activist back in 1992.

In a video uploaded to YouTube in 2008, titled ‘The girl who silenced the world for 5 minutes’, Severn Cullis-Suzuki tells the adults of the UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janerio, Brazil, that they “must change their ways” to protect the environment.

The video has been watched nearly 32 million times.

The 12-year-old was speaking on behalf of ECO, the Environmental Children’s Organisation, which she described as “a group of 12 and 13-year-olds trying to make a difference”.

She claimed they raised all the money themselves to attend the summit and pass on their important message of environmental change.

Ms Cullis-Suzuki said: “I have no hidden agenda, I am fighting for my future. Losing my future is not like losing an election or a few point son the stock market.

“I am here to speak for all generations to come. I am here to speak on behalf of the starving children around the world whose cries go unheard. I am here to speak for the countless animals dying across the planet because they have nowhere left to go.

“I am scared to go out into the sun now because of the holes in our ozone layer. I am afraid to breath the air because I don’t know what chemicals are in it. I used to go fishing in Vancouver, my home, with my dad, until just a few years ago we found the fish full of cancers. And now we hear of animals and plants going extinct. Every day, vanishing forever.”

She asked: “Did you have to worry of these things when you were my age?”

She demanded change, and said: “I am only a child and I don’t have all the solutions. But I want you to realise, neither do you. If you don’t know how to fix it, please stop breaking it.”

While she appears to focus more on conservation than climate change, both she and Ms Thunberg have the same message: adults need to implement change.

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Ms Cullis-Suzuki is still a prominent environmental activist to this day.

The daughter of a Canadian environmental David Suzuki, she celebrated the 25th anniversary of her life-changing speech at the UN with her friends from ECO in 2017.

Ms Cullis-Suzuki claims climate change is the “ultimate example of an intergenerational crime”.

She tweeted in response to last Friday’s Global Climate Strike, where millions between from all over the world protested in favour of urgent action to address the ‘climate crisis’.

She wrote: “My heart is so full. The youth are showing the world how to take action. Demanding transformation now. Human change not climate change.”

Four million people reportedly went on strike worldwide.

Another strike is due to take place tomorrow, Friday September 27, and aims to “disrupt business as usual” to bring attention to the world’s changing environment.

Ms Thunberg tweeted to say 4638 events will be held throughout September in favour of climate action, across 139 countries.

The Swedish teen also testified before the US Congress a few weeks ago, and discussed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report on global warming.

She claimed: “I don’t want you to listen to me. I want you to listen to the scientists.”

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