Thousands of young people marched through the streets of Glasgow on Friday at the end of the first week of the COP26 global climate conference, accusing the great of this world of inaction in the face of the climate disruption which threatens their generation and the following ones.
Two days of protests are planned in the Scottish city to cry out for the climate emergency, in the face of the devastating effects across the planet of rising temperatures due to greenhouse gas emissions generated by human activities.
Carrying banners such as “Stand up for the future”, teens, young adults and children around the world chanted “What do we want?” Climate justice! And for when? For now ! “
In the crowd led by the global movement Fridays for Future and slowly starting from the center of Glasgow were expected the face of the fight against global warming the Swedish Greta Thunberg as well as the Ugandan Vanessa Nakate.
Beth Donaldson, a 16-year-old Scottish woman came with friends to say that not far away, locked in the huge conference center, adults, in delegations from nearly 200 countries, decide until November 12 of the future of his contemporaries.
“We see all these political leaders on TV saying they’re going to act, but we never know what kinds of actions they’re going to take. It is not really their future that is in question, but ours, ”she said.
Important security measures were in place around the site, which was already very secure in ordinary times.
Julia Klein, a 50-year-old performer, came to demonstrate with her 10-year-old son.
” We are fighting “
“It’s the kids who are really going to be affected by this. And they are already aware of it. I want them to have a clean planet. Not that they have to fight for food or die in fires or floods, ”she told AFP.
For young Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate, “Protests like this put pressure on those in power, and we know this movement needs to grow to achieve the changes we need to ensure the safety of present and future generations.” .
Inspired by Greta Thunberg, millions of young people took to the streets across the world in 2019 to call on their leaders to act faster and stronger against global warming.
Interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, these weekly Friday demonstrations have been resuming for a few weeks, still led by their Scandinavian muse whose shocking formulas are found on the banners.
Like the “blah-blah” that has punctuated his accusations for a few months.
“This is no longer a climate conference. It is a festival of greenwashing rich countries. A two-week celebration of business as usual and blah-blah, ”she again denounced Thursday on Twitter, on the eve of the demonstration, during which she must address the crowd.
See also: Three challenges of COP26
Inside the conference center, Friday is also Youth Day.
In October, Italian Environment Minister Roberto Cingolani and COP26 President Alok Sharma promised to send Glasgow the manifesto adopted by 400 young people from all over the world gathered in Milan under the auspices of the UN: around fifty pages of proposals for energy transition, funding or citizen participation.
After the youth on Friday, a larger coalition of organizations is calling for demonstrations on Saturday at concurrent events around the world.
“For ten years, the storms in the Pacific have been more severe, the droughts are longer and the floods stronger. Fishermen can no longer feed their families. That’s what I walk for, ”Brianna Fruean, who came from Samoa with the Pacific Climate Warriors, said in a statement. “We refuse to be just victims of this crisis. We are not drowning, we are fighting, and on Saturday the world will hear us ”.
The 2015 Paris agreement aims to limit global warming to well below “2 ° C, if possible” 1.5 ° C, to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, which are already wreaking havoc across the country. planet. Each additional tenth of a degree has its share of consequences.
But, according to the latest UN estimates, the world is heading for a “catastrophic” warming of + 2.7 ° C.
In recent days, new strengthened commitments have been announced by India, Brazil and Argentina, which could change these forecasts, but the analyzes are not yet available.