Global protest to call for climate change protection

Across the world rallies have been held to draw attention to climate change ahead of a UN summit tomorrow in New York.

High profile supporters including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and former US Vice-President Al Gore joined a march along Central Park in the city.

“Climate change is the defining issue of our time and there is no time to loseä, said Ban Ki-Moon, “if we don’t take action now we’ll have to pay much more.”

Marches also took place in cities across Latin America including Rio de Janeiro, with hundreds of people chanting “change, change, change”.

In Berlin organisers said they want to make sure that the issue is does not get lost among all the other problems in the world.

“We believe that the UN climate summit in New York is a crucial one”, said one of the organisters, Rene Schaar, “that is why we want to send a political message. We want to be heard and show the politicians that something has to be done for climate protection.”

In Belgium, Sunday was a car-free zone in the capital Brussels to highlight the issue. Over a thousand people also marched to the Foreign Affairs Ministry to hand over a petition signed by one-and-a-half million people.

In a show of unity on the other side of the globe, thousands of people took to the streets of Melbourne in Australia. Some of them marched to the Cairns Convention Centre where ministers and bankers are attending a G20 summit.