The People's Climate march: For 72 hours the world takes to the streets and tells leaders: 'Act now on climate change'

 

Tom Bawden
Monday 22 September 2014 08:42 BST
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The People's Climate March in Delhi, India, yesterday
The People's Climate March in Delhi, India, yesterday

It promises to be an unparalleled demonstration of the world’s fury at its leaders’ continued failure to tackle climate change: an unprecedented statement by hundreds of thousands of people.

Today, and for the next two days, before a key meeting on climate change at the UN in New York, protesters will take to the streets, from Papua New Guinea to central London.

Campaigners say the cost of climate change – estimated at 650 million people affected, 112,000 lives lost, hundreds of billions of pounds in the past five years alone – must produce real commitments from world leaders.

Before Tuesday’s summit, when the UK Government will sign up to a new reforestation commitment, 2,000 rallies and protests are planned across 150 countries.

In rural Papua New Guinea, primary school students will march to a nearby lighthouse which is becoming submerged as sea levels rise.

“There’s a vast latent constituency of people out there alarmed about climate change,” said Ricken Patel, head of the Avaaz campaign group helping to organise the rallies. “But, for years, nobody has put up a banner that said that ‘this is the time, this is the place, to show that you care’. The People’s Climate March is that banner.”

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