Saturday November 18 11:41 AM ET
Protesters Besiege Climate Talks to Show Flood Risk
By Robin Pomeroy
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (Reuters) - Thousands of environmentalists laid siege to climate change talks on Saturday to push for curbs on greenhouse gas emissions, building a sandbag wall at the venue to warn of the risk of flooding posed by global warming.
``The coming week in the Hague may prove to be one of the most important in the three and a half billion-year history of life on Earth,'' British campaigner Tony Juniper told the 5,000 demonstrators from around the world.
Minor scuffles ensued after a handful of protesters splashed green paint on windows of a building next to the talks venue where 180 countries are working out how to implement an international treaty on climate change treaty.
Security officers forcibly removed some activists who gained entry to a room where an energy seminar was taking place. Police detained eight people.
But the demonstration passed off mostly in a carnival atmosphere, with police officers dancing along to the beat of a live Brazilian band, as activists pointed to recent European flooding as evidence of dangers posed by climate change.
``After what we have seen recently in Britain, no one will question the link between sandbags and climate change,'' said Roger Higman, a British campaigner from the Friends of the Earth (FoE) group, referring to Britain's worst floods in 50 years.
To show his support, Dutch Environment Minister Jan Pronk who is chairing the negotiations, joined activists in piling sandbags on to the wall before clambering up a makeshift platform to address the crowd.
Confronting Political Choices
``I am extremely pleased that so many people came here to the Hague, it sends a signal to the negotiators inside,'' he said.
Ministers were arriving for the second and final week of the talks to help set in motion the treaty agreed in Kyoto, Japan in 1997 aimed at cutting industrialized nations' greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-2012.
Diplomats have already spent one week in talks trying to sift from hundreds of pages of technical details the real political choices ministers will confront in the coming days.
Juniper, vice chair of FoE, said politicians faced stark choices with massive environmental consequences.
``Success next week would be marked by a robust and tight agreement that immediately initiates the start of the necessary phase-out of fossil fuels as our principal energy source,'' he said
Scientists predict average global temperatures could rise 1.5-6.0 degrees Celsius during this century, resulting in a 50 centimeter rise in sea levels, threatening 200 million people who live in coastal areas of China, Southeast Asia and Africa.
Many politicians in Europe blamed climate change in part for the recent floods which caused householders in towns from York to Turin to resort to sandbags to protect their homes.
``A temperature rise of only a few degrees will have a significant impact on life in every part of the globe, `` U.N. Environment Program head Klaus Toepfer told the demonstration.
He said potential consequences included changing climatic zones, more extreme weather, growing water shortages, failed crops, damaged eco-systems and the spread of diseases,
Wriggling Out
Protesters said rich countries were using the talks to try to wriggle out of commitments they made at Kyoto to cut greenhouse gas emissions, accusing the United States above all of trying to weaken the pact.
``The U.S. is willing to help reduce carbon dioxide in foreign countries but not in their own,'' said Mary Louw, a Dutch protester.
Around 20 students from Kyoto University attended, calling on Japan to support and ratify a strong agreement that bears the name of their home town.
Protesters also aimed their ire at the nuclear industry which they claim is trying to use fears over climate change to boost its technology which does not produce the greenhouse emissions that come from coal, oil and gas-fired power stations.
``It would be terrible to think that nuclear could get a boost from this after environmentalists have worked against it for years,'' said Lucy Pearce, a student from Oxford in Britain.
Earlier Stories
Energy Firms See No Big Costs From Climate Pact (November
18)
Climate Talks Stall Over Carbon 'Sinks' (November 17)
Climate Talks Deadlocked, Race to Find Compromise (November
17)
Climate Row: Amazon 'Sink' or Lungs of the Planet? (November
16)
EU Blasts U.S. Climate Plan As 'Free Gift' (November 16)
EU Gives Surprise Welcome to Climate Proposal (November 15)
