Protesters’ face a race against time

11:36am Monday 6th November 2006

SWINDON protesters joined thousands of people at a rally in London calling for urgent action on climate change.

More than 30 campaigners from the town joined the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition event on Saturday to urge the Government to do more.

The march and demonstration were staged ahead of the latest United Nations summit on climate change taking place in Nairobi, Kenya over two weeks.

There were reports of between 22,000 and 30,000 people at the rally in Trafalgar Square.

Activists want an international deal to keep global warming to less than two degrees centigrade, and to lead by example by introducing a Climate Change Bill in to the Queen's Speech, to deliver annual cuts in UK carbon dioxide emissions.

Swindon Climate Action Group coordinator Andy Parsons, 43, of Old Town, said activists were concerned politicians were talking about global warming but doing nothing about it.

He said the march, from the American embassy and Trafalgar Square, had gone well.

"The main message of the rally was we want to keep the pressure on the Government to have a climate Bill in the Queen's Speech with definite climate change targets," Mr Parsons said.

"There are a lot of politicians talking at the moment.

"There is a great fear that they won't do anything."

SCAN member Gina Adams, 36, of Old Town, said the clock was ticking on a climate catastrophe.

"We have only four to 10 years to act," Ms Adams said.

"At that point we face mass extinctions.

"We need to start acting now."

Friends of the Earth Swindon campaigner Mark Wheaver, of Lawn, said the rally attracted four times the number of people expected.

He said there was danger that people thought it was already too late to save the planet and would give up.

"It's not too late but it soon might be," he said.

London rally organiser and coalition director Ashok Sinha the Government could make a strong case at the international climate talks this week.

"There is a danger threshold: If we breach it, it could be catastrophic," he said.

"''The Government have enough evidence themselves that something needs to be done.

"''We can make the argument about how many people could suffer. We can make the argument on the impact on the eco-systems, we can make the argument about peace and security - 100 million people could become climate change refugees but if any other arguments still need to be made we could say that economically it is of fundamental importance.

"We can save much money in the long run if we deal with this problem now.

Last week, the Stern Report focused on the financial costs of climate change and the Government announced that it accepts urgent action is needed.