Green activists rally in Canada
Demonstration in Montreal, Canada
Thousands of people have demonstrated in the Canadian city of Montreal to demand action on global warming.
The
demonstration was timed to coincide with a United Nations summit on
climate change in the city.Earlier, thousands of people marched through
London in a protest which ended at the US embassy.Environmental groups
are critical of what they see as the inadequate response of governments
to the threat of global warming.
Delicate manoeuvring
Five
groups, including Greenpeace and the Climate Crisis Coalition,
delivered a petition to the US consulate in Montreal, the Associated
Press reports
Climate change:
The petition, signed by 600,000 Americans, calls on the Bush administration and the US Congress to help stop global warming.
Canadian
Inuit of the Arctic north, including hunters, trappers and elders, have
travelled to Montreal to take part in the demonstration.
“We’re
worried about climate change, about ways of life in the Canadian Arctic
disappearing,” said Sarah Binder of Montreal’s Urban Ecology Center.
Marches
had also been expected in Washington, Sydney and Johannesburg as part
of an international day of action on global warming.
Delegates from
189 countries are at the 10-day conference to consider how to meet the
Kyoto Protocol targets and what measures should follow when these
expire in 2012.
The Kyoto agreement, which came into force earlier
this year, requires industrialised nations to cut emissions of
greenhouse gases by 5.2%.
The US, the world’s biggest emitter, is
not a signatory to Kyoto, saying it is costly to introduce and that the
agreement is flawed.
BBC environment correspondent Tim Hirsch says
the coming days will see delicate manoeuvring to find ways of bringing
the US and key developing countries into discussions about future
action on global warming, without asking them to commit themselves to
firm targets and timetables.