Thousands of protesters from around the globe gathered in Madrid to demand urgent action on the climate crisis. World leaders are attending the COP25 summit as the Spanish city is hosting the climate negotiations by the UN.
The demonstration was organized by the climate strike movement Fridays for Future and was also attended by tens of thousands of people including, famous activist Greta Thunberg, Actor, Javier Bardem, students, families, and professionals.
Although no official figure has been given, organizers say around 500,000 people took part in the demonstrations, all advocating for a more ambitious climate change policy.
Protesters in Santiago, Chile’s capital simultaneously hit the streets demanding immediate action to protect the planet.
The United Nation’s COP25 climate conference tagged: Time for Action is slated to last till December 13 where the negotiators hope to resolve disagreements over the implementation of the Paris Climate Accords.
Protesters’ demands
The demands made by thousands of protesters as they took the streets in the Spanish capital include:
Government interest in climate protection
Protesters who travel from various parts of the globe are demanding world leaders pay more attention to protecting the planet.
15-year-old Daniel, who came from Colombia with her parents, said governments are ignoring the climate. He stated that they don’t care about the interest of the next generations (the common interest) but only for their interests.
Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg said the only thing they want to achieve with the demonstration is to see real change put in place by world leaders.
500’000 people marched in Madrid last night. This is the beginning of change! The world is slowly waking up to the climate and environmental crisis. Soon the people in power can no longer get away with ignoring the science. #cop25 #fridaysforfuture #climatestrike pic.twitter.com/9WVhdbuxDL
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) December 7, 2019
Establishing the Paris accord agreement
Protesters are also demanding that negotiators from across the world continued to try to hammer out the final details of the 2015 Paris Agreement.
The Paris Agreement recently saw its influential countries, particularly the United States, Australia, Japan and Switzerland, withdrawing from the pact.
The United Nation’s COP25 climate conference will also discuss measures to decrease carbon emissions as part of the Paris Agreement.
Under the accord, ratified by almost 200 countries, nations have drawn up their targets to reduce carbon emissions to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels by the end of the century.
Many vulnerable nations are pressing for a new financial mechanism to pay for principal, one-off disasters such as hurricanes and typhoons, as well as longer-term problems exacerbated by climate change.
Funding to help developing countries to adapt to climate change and pay for the damage that has already been inflicted is also another sticking point in negotiations.
Unambitious national targets
Global leaders are set to descend on the COP25 climate conference for the second week of negotiations, but whether their attendance will lead to higher ambitions and the change protesters are calling for remains to be seen.
Protesters are also demanding that world leaders listen to experts who have said that national targets to reduce their emissions are not ambitious enough to be in line with the Paris Agreement and would potentially see a temperature rise of at least 3 degrees Celsius.
The demonstrators added that governments need to re-evaluate their policies taking the planet’s health firstly over monetary value.
Parallel Social Summit
SCAC has been the driving force behind a week-long Social Summit for Climate Action, which begins on Saturday and runs parallel to the COP25, involving hundreds of events, lectures, and workshops.
Indigenous groups will also have a visible presence, with Juan Antonio Correa of the Minga Indigena collective saying their lands and peoples were the first to be affected by climate change.
Addressing the nations that signed the 2015 Paris Agreement, they said it was irresponsible that just a year before the treaty becomes operational, there was still no emissions reduction plan that is compatible with scientific estimates.
What is COP25?
The 2019 Climate Change Conference will feature the 25th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 25) to the UNFCCC, the 15th session of the COP serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 15).
The second session of the COP serves as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 2), and the 51st sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI 51) and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA 51).
COP25 was originally scheduled to convene from 2-13 December 2019, in Santiago, Chile, as the “Santiago Climate Change Conference,” with a pre-sessional period from 26 November to 1 December 2019. The location was decided at the conclusion of COP.
