Rallies call for climate change action ahead of Paris summit

{Demonstrations are getting under way worldwide to demand action to stop climate change on the eve of the UN summit in Paris.}

More than 2,000 events are taking place, with tens of thousands of people already out in Sydney, Australia.

In Paris itself, activists plan to form a “human chain” in a scaled-down rally following the recent attacks.

Activists want action to limit the rise in the average global temperature to 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial levels.

In Sydney, many people carried placards reading “There is no Planet B” and “Solidarity on a global scale”.

Mayor Clover Moore tweeted to say that, according to organisers, the true number of demonstrators was “at least 45,000”, which would make it the biggest ever such march in Sydney, if confirmed.

In the city of Adelaide, South Australia, a rally of about 5,000 people highlighted the impact that climate change has on health, food security and development.

“Those who did the least to cause the problem are feeling the impacts first and hardest, like our sisters and brothers in the Pacific,” said Oxfam campaigner Judee Adams.

As sea levels rise because of climate change, many low-lying Pacific nations fear they could disappear beneath the waves.

In Paris, the human chain will be formed by more than 3,000 people linking arms along the 3km (1.9 miles) route of a march through the city that was called off after the 13 November attacks.

“This is a moment for the whole world to join hands,” said Iain Keith, one of the organisers.

There is also a plan to leave hundreds of pairs of shoes on Place de la Republique to remember those left frustrated in their plans to march.

Some climate change rallies were also held on Friday and Saturday.

About 150 world leaders are due to attend the Paris talks including US President Barack Obama, China’s Xi Jinping, India’s Narendra Modi and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

French President Francois Hollande has called for “a binding agreement, a universal agreement, one that is ambitious” at the Paris talks but warned that achieving it will not be easy.

“Man is the worst enemy of man,” he said. “We can see it with terrorism. But we can say the same when it comes to climate. Human beings are destroying nature, damaging the environment.”

COP 21 – the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties – will see more than 190 nations gather in Paris to discuss a possible new global agreement on climate change, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the threat of dangerous warming due to human activities.

SOURCE:BBC:[Rallies call for climate change action ahead of Paris summit->Rallies call for climate change action ahead of Paris summit]