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How YEFL's Climate Activists Are Leading Ghana's Green Future

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Across Ghana, a new generation of climate leaders is emerging — young people who didn't wait for permission to act. They came through YEFL Ghana and CDKN Ghana's Climate Activist programme with a fire in their hearts and a vision for their communities. Now, they are turning that energy into real projects, real change, and real impact.

One of them is Suleiman Nimbang.

Growing up in Ghana's Northern Region, Suleiman saw the effects of deforestation firsthand — forests thinning, land drying out, communities increasingly vulnerable to a changing climate. When he joined YEFL's Climate Activist programme, he didn't just learn about climate change. He discovered that he already had the tools to fight it: a camera, a story, and a voice.

Today, Suleiman is a filmmaker, visual storyteller, and climate activist — and he is putting all three to work in his most ambitious project yet: The Last Tree, a short film that uses the power of cinema to make the climate crisis impossible to ignore.

Telling the Story the World Needs to Hear

The Last Tree centres on a woodsman whose entire livelihood depends on cutting down trees. It is a simple story with a devastating punchline: by destroying the forest around him, the woodsman is also destroying himself. When his wooden house begins to deteriorate and finally collapses, the message lands with quiet force — nature's decline and humanity's decline are one and the same.

Through stunning forest scenes and dramatic drone cinematography, Suleiman brings this allegory to life in just one minute. But the film's brevity belies its ambition. He wants it shown in schools, screened at environmental events, and shared widely online — a short, sharp reminder that our survival is inseparable from the health of the natural world.

This is exactly the kind of leadership YEFL's Climate Activist programme was designed to cultivate: young people who don't just understand the climate crisis, but who take ownership of solving it in ways that are rooted in their own communities and talents.

From Activist to Architect of Change

The programme gave Suleiman more than knowledge. It gave him confidence, a network, and the belief that a young person from the Northern Region could contribute something meaningful to the global climate conversation. The Last Tree is the result — a project entirely conceived, designed, and driven by a CAP alumnus.

With an estimated production budget of $1,600, Suleiman has mapped out a clear plan: finalising the script, scouting the perfect forest location, casting the right actor, filming on location with natural light, and completing the film through careful editing, visual effects, and immersive sound design. Every detail has been thought through. Every step is deliberate.

He is now seeking funding partners who want to be part of something that matters — supporters who will receive recognition in the film's credits and join a growing movement of people using creativity to drive environmental stewardship.

Why This Matters

Stories like Suleiman's are proof that investing in young climate activists works. When young people are given the skills, mentorship, and platform to act, they do not simply talk about change — they make it.

YEFL Ghana's Climate Activist programme continues to develop the next generation of leaders across the country, young people who are moving beyond awareness into action, beyond workshops into projects, beyond being participants into being pioneers.

The Last Tree is one of those projects. It will not save every forest in Ghana. But it might make someone stop, think, and choose differently. And in a climate fight that will be won or lost one decision at a time, that is exactly the kind of impact that matters.

Want to support Suleiman's film or learn more about YEFL Ghana's Climate Activist programme? Get in touch with the YEFL Ghana team.

Written by Lise Gauenkaer