The demonstrators calling for climate action only marched for less than a kilometre from the Cornish Park some few metres from the Sheraton Roundabout along the beach. It was held far from the Qatar National Convention Centre where the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties is being held.
The march supported by regional and international NGO networks such as IndyACT, OASIS Doha, 350.org, Climate Action Network and the global TckTckTck campaign as well as youth activists who were instrumental in the Arab spring and are now organised in the newly founded Arab Youth Climate Movement.
One of the organisers, Ria Voorhaar from Climate Action Network said this Climate Public March is to tell politicians that we demand action here in Doha not political rhetoric.
“As results from international climate negotiations have a distant horizon, as civil society we have to push governments to take domestic action to increase resilience and protect the vulnerable against the effects of climate change,” Voorhaar said.
Robert Kithuku form Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) said they are in Doha representing 45 countries from the African continent and are here to make sure that the developed countries pay for their climate sins.
“We bear the burden of climate change, but they are not of our making. For centuries the industrialised world became wealthy by polluting the atmosphere,” the Kenya based activist, Kithuku said.
He said the developed have proposed global goals that risk untold suffering in Africa, while offering insufficient emission reductions and inadequate funding.
“Expectations are downgraded and processes are delayed. At the same time they continue to exert pressure on developing countries. Those who suffer the injustice of climate change are encouraged to be constructive, while those who cause it are divide and rule, through political pressure and the misuse of financial resources,” he said.
Jamie Peters from a UK International Climate Policy Trainer said: "No World Cup without workers’ rights"
Post published in: News