On 4th November, thousands of people joined in demonstrations around the world to call on world leaders to take urgent action on climate change. The demos were strategically timed ahead of the UN climate negotiations which are taking place in Nairobi between November 6 th and 17 th.
More information on the demonstrations organized around the world at: www.globalclimatecampaign.org
Friends of the Earth groups from across Europe were involved in the organisation of the events taking place in their country.
Friends of the Earth is stressing the need for an equitable and effective agreement recognising the issue of equity, and the principle of "differentiated but common responsibilities", it is essential that developed countries act first in making the deepest cuts and demonstrate further leadership on the issue of climate change, by setting new binding targets that sharply reduce their emissions beyond 2012.
Additional agreements are also urgently required to resolve arrangements for the Adaptation Fund which finances projects on the ground in developing countries to help manage the impacts of climate change. In addition, governments of rich countries must increase funding for adaptation in less developed countries.
Friends of the Earth will also be distributing copies of Friends of the Earth Europe's Climate Deal at the Nairobi talks. The Deal represents an agreement made between citizens and political leaders in Europe. This followed an awareness raising campaign in Europe during the summer of 2006, when Friends of the Earth Europe campaigners collected thousands of "Citizens Deals against Climate Change". People from all over Europe promised to adopt more climate friendly behaviour; in counterpart they expect their government to do the same on the policy level.
BELGIUM
The Brussels Friends of the Earth group held a street action together with a broad coalition of environmental groups at the "Place de la Monnaie", Brussels, between 10am and noon, together with school and youth groups. The theme of the action was "Its 5 to 12. Time to wake up to Climate Change". Alarm clocks were handed to the participants and flyers and t-shirts were been distributed. Politicians invited to the event were presented with a letter of demands in the form of a big wooden alarm clock.
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FINLAND
Friends of the Earth in Finland was part of the group organizing climate marches in six different cities (Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Kuopio, Tampere, Oulu and Turku) to demand that the Finnish government takes a leading role in its policies to tackle climate change. The main message was that energy efficiency and renewable energy must be the main means to cut CO2 emissions by 30% by 2020. More information on these events at www.ilmastomarssi.org.
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FRANCE
Our French group "Les Amis de la Terre" held a big action in Paris together with the French Climate Action Network and several other groups. Their action featured some celebrities who are clearly suffering from climate change: Santa Claus stripped to his shorts, next to a melting snowman and a Yeti!
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GERMANY
Our German group BUND's action, on 6th November at the Brandenburg gate in Berlin, involved a big pile of coal. Dragging this coal around symbolized the environmental and economic burden of a policy based on fossil fuels. It is a particular fear that Germany, with its extensive coal reserves, will yield to the temptation and stick with fossil fuels.
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THE NETHERLANDS
The action of our Dutch group Milieudefensie focused on the danger of rising sealevels for their country, considering one quarter of the surface of the Netherlands is actually below sea-level and protected by dikes. Milieudefensie organized a bike tour along the topographical sea-level, to symbolize all the places threatened by the rising sea-level.. Discussions with Ministers will take place as part of this event. Visit the website of the event: www.groenedraad.nl
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SWEDEN
The local group of Friends of the Earth in Gothenburg organized a protest in which they used balloons to symbolize the amount of CO2 emitted through a specific daily life action, for example the amount of CO2 in one small balloon representing 50m driven by a car and a big metrological balloon containing 5,4kg of CO2 representing the amount of CO2 emitted to get one kilo of pineapple from Ghana to Sweden.
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UK
Friends of the Earth in the UK is part of the Climate Chaos Coalition, and part of the group which organised a major rally in Trafalgar Square, London. The event involved a mass gathering of thousands of people to hear music, entertainment and inspiring speakers - all demanding that the UK Government puts in place year on year emissions reductions in the UK, and shows leadership internationally by taking action on climate change. Various feeder events also joined the event - a big march of campaigners from a rally in Grosvenor Square outside the US embassy and thousands of students from People & Planet.
Friends of the Earth UK is also part of the ICount campaign, signing up thousands of people to take personal and political action. Check for more info at http://www.icount.org.uk/
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