WEB DESK
Hundreds of environmental activists today called on industrialised nations to pay for the impact of climate change and speed up the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
This was the largest protest so far at the UN climate summit known as COP27 in Egypt. The protesters marched through the conference’s Blue Zone,’ which is considered a UN territory and ruled by international law.
They chanted, sang, and danced in an area not far from where climate talks and negotiations are taking place.
Many protesters, alongside several vulnerable countries, have called for ‘loss and damage’ payments, or financing to help pay for climate-related harms, to be central to negotiations.
Nbani, a Nigerian environmental activist said Africa is crying and its people are dying. Protesters also called for drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions being pumped into the atmosphere.
Some activists heckled US President Joe Biden’s speech and raised an orange banner that read, “People vs. Fuels” before being removed.
Today’s rallies also focused on human and gender rights, with protesters saying both are linked to climate justice and called for an end to a crackdown on rights and environmental activists, especially in developing nations.