Skipping school to glide through a dirty Bangkok canal on a paddleboard, Lilly fishes out rubbish in her mission to clean up Thailand, where the average person uses eight plastic bags every single day.

"I am a kid at war," the bubbly 12-year-old says after a painstaking hour-long routine picking up cans, bags and bottles bobbing in the canal.

"I try to stay optimistic but I am also angry. Our world is disappearing," she adds.

Thailand is the sixth largest global contributor to ocean pollution, and plastic is a scourge.

Whether it's for wrapping up street food, takeaway coffees or for groceries, Thais use 3,000 single use bags per year -- 12 times more than someone from the European Union.

In June, Lilly won her first victory: she persuaded Central, a major supermarket in Bangkok, to stop giving out plastic bags in its stores once a week.

"I told myself that if the government did not listen to me, it would be necessary to speak directly to those who distribute plastic bags and convince them to stop," she explains.

This month some of the biggest brands, including the operator of the ubiquitous 7-Eleven convenience stores, pledged to stop handing out single-use plastic bags by January next year.

Mindsets have started to shift this year with the deaths of several marine mammals whose stomachs were lined with plastic, stirring emotions.

The demise last month of a baby dugong was mourned on social media, reviving discussion in the government over a proposed ban on most single-use plastics by 2022.

But critics say along with new rules there need to be enforcement mechanisms such as fines.

For now young activists like Lilly can help capture attention.

"You might be able to tune out all of the evidence and advocacy in the world, but it's very hard to ignore a child when they ask why we're trashing the planet that they have to live on," says Kakuko Nagatani-Yoshida, regional coordinator for chemicals, waste and air quality with UN Environment.

- 'It's up to us' -

Lilly is Ralyn Satidtanasarn's nickname.

The US-Thai youngster started campaigning at the age of eight after a seaside vacation in southern Thailand where she was horrified by a beach covered in rubbish.

"We cleaned up with my parents, but that was not helpful because other waste was thrown out by the sea the next day," she recalls.

Then came the global movement initiated by 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, who has become a key face in the battle against global warming.

Inspired by the young Swede, Lilly did sit-ins in front of the Thai government buildings.

"Greta Thunberg gave me confidence. When adults do not do anything, it's up to us children to act," she insists.

Though she often skips class to carry out her activism, she will not be in New York alongside Thunberg for a protest on September 20 just days before the UN climate conference.

"My place is here, the fight is also in Southeast Asia," she says.

Even if she sometimes wants to take a break and "go play" like other kids, she also takes part in cleaning sessions organised by local association Trash Hero.

Other activists praise her but say she is up against massive corporate interests.

The main obstacle is the petrochemical industry, one of the main markets for plastics, accounting for 5 percent of Thailand's GDP and tens of thousands of jobs.

"Lilly is a very good voice for the youth of this country but the lobbies are very powerful and that makes any change difficult," concedes Nattapong Nithiuthai, who set up a company turning discarded waste into flip flops.

She can also count on the support of her parents, who help her write speeches to the UN and government officials.

Her mother, Sasie, herself a former environmental activist, adds: "At first, I thought it was a child's fad, but Lilly hung on, so I decided to support her."

Paris promises: where the world's biggest polluters stand
New York (AFP) Sept 17, 2019 - UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has convened a major new climate summit on September 23 because the world's main polluters remain well behind their goals as laid out in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Here are where the main players stand in relation to the goals they had set for themselves.

- China -

China is on track to meet or surpass its goal for carbon dioxide emissions to peak by 2030.

Beijing has also set a goal of 20 percent of its future energy mix to come from non-fossil fuels (renewable and nuclear). This goal appears more distant.

- United States -

Under former president Barack Obama, the US committed to reducing its emissions from 26 to 28 percent by 2025 compared to 2005.

But his successor Donald Trump announced in 2017 he would be leaving the Paris agreement (though the US remains a part until 2020), and immediately committed to tearing Obama's plan apart, rolling back limits on coal-fired plants, auto emissions and more.

- European Union -

The EU is committed to a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.

The European Commission predicts that this objective will be exceeded, but wants its member states to adopt a more ambitious goal: zero net emissions by 2050.

Member countries have yet to achieve a consensus and negotiations continue.

- Carbon neutral goals -

Two small countries, Bhutan and Suriname, are already carbon neutral, according to a study by Britain's Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit published in June.

Several others have announced their intention to reach that objective by 2050 or earlier.

Here is a list of those who have codified that goal into their law, or have committed to it as part of their Paris agreement objectives, according to the site climatechangenews.com:

By 2030: Norway and Uruguay

By 2045: Sweden and the US state of California

By 2050: Fiji, France (which holds its final vote on the matter in its upper house in September) and the United Kingdom

But adopting this objective does not signify a country is on track to meet it, as shown by the example of France.

A government body ruled in June that the actions undertaken thus far were "insufficient".

Related Links
Our Polluted World and Cleaning It Up

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Germany plans to ban single-use plastic shopping bags next year
Berlin (AFP) Sept 6, 2019
Germany plans to ban single-use plastic bags from next year, joining a growing movement to fight global pollution, the environment minister said Friday. Supermarkets and other retailers will be barred from offering lightweight plastic carrier bags at their checkouts, including those now marketed as being biodegradable or being made from renewable sources instead of petroleum. "The vast majority of Germans want this ban," said Environment Minister Svenja Schulze of the centre-left Social Democrat ... read more