Environmental campaigners form human wave

Environmental campaigners formed a human wave in Dublin today to call on the Government to push for a meaningful deal at the forthcoming UN climate change summit in Copenhagen.

Hundreds of participants, most wearing blue, lined the route from the Department of the Environment at Custom House Quay to Government Buildings on Merrion Street.

The colourful demonstration was timed to coincide with similar “waves” in cities across Europe ahead of the international negotiations in Denmark next week.

As world leaders prepare to thrash out a global agreement to tackle climate change, the campaigners in Dublin urged the Irish government to show leadership.

Oisin Coghlan of Friends of the Earth said: “The Copenhagen talks are crucial to the future of us all. The eyes of the world will be turned to Copenhagen next week and we need the Irish Government to show leadership. There has never been a more important time for people to take the call for climate justice on to the streets”

Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Environment John Gormley and Taoiseach Brian Cowen are travelling to Copenhagen for the talks.

Colin Roche of Oxfam Ireland stressed the importance of the summit.

“People’s lives are already being devastated around the world by climate change,” he said.

“As the world warms hundreds of millions more face the prospect of increased natural disasters, hunger, disease and a lack of water, with the poorest hit first and worst. The vital importance of these negotiations for all of us cannot be underestimated. These talks need to put a halt to runaway climate change.”