A citizen-led initiative of a climate march, organised by Climate Action Now, is being held today across Pakistan, marking climate strikes in other countries to help stop global warming.
More than 26 cities and towns are taking part in the march all over the country, including Mardan, Mithi, Thatta, Kasur, Kotli, Chagai, Killa Abdullah, Peshawar, Chitral, Gilgit, etc.
According to the organisers, demonstrations in Faislabad, Peshawar, Ghotki and Mardan have already started.
Meherbano Raja, a climate activist and part of the organising committee, said they were expecting everyone to gather at the Lahore Press Club at 3pm, and then starting the march at 4pm.
“It will be youth led because they are the most affected generation and so they will be leading from the front,” she said. “These will include school students too.”
In Karachi, protestors began to gather at the Frere Hall at 4pm. Artist and teacher Yasir Husain along with Zehra Zaidi of Karachi Citizen Lab started the event.
Cultural activist Sheema Kermani, while addressing a charged group of people, said that everyone should be involved in the event “because it (climate change) is going to affect us all”.
She said the aim of the march was to bring climate change to the knowledge of the government as they are responsible for environmental emergencies.
As the crowds begun to swell, protestors started chanting: “What do we want? Climate justice!”
15 -year-old Rimsha from SMB Fatima Jinnah also addressed the gathering, calling attention to the fact that people are no longer able to breathe fresh air.
“If people love their families and their country, they must understand their responsibilities [towards the environment],” she said.
Celebrities as well as leaders, including Senator Sherry Rehman, have called on people to participate in the climate march.
More than 5,000 events are planned worldwide for what is expected to be one of the largest-ever collective calls to action in a movement fuelled by social media under the hashtag #climatestrike.
In New York, 1.1 million students in around 1,800 public schools have been permitted to skip school.
Dubbed the “Fridays for Future” movement, the campaign wants children around the world to take a more active role in persuading adults to treat climate change more seriously.
They are demanding politicians and businesses take the drastic action needed to stop global warming, which scientists warn will lead to environmental catastrophe under current trends.
Australia
Some of the first rallies kicked off in Australia’s largest city, Sydney, and the national capital, Canberra. Australian demonstrators called for their nation, which is the world’s largest exporter of coal and liquid natural gas, to take more drastic action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Organisers estimate more than 300,000 protesters have taken to Australian streets.
Australia’s acting prime minister has described ongoing climate rallies as “just a disruption” that should have been held on a weekend to avoid inconveniencing communities.
Acting Prime Minister Michael McCormack says students would learn more at school than at protests.
India
Demonstrations were held in India’s cities, including Mumbai and New Delhi — one of the world’s most polluted cities.
Dozens of students and environmental activists chanted “We want climate action” and “I want to breathe clean” at a rally outside the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
They carried banners with some displaying messages like “There is no Earth B.”
Philippines
Thousands protested in the Philippines, which experts say faces threats from rising sea levels and increasingly violent storms.
“There are a lot of people here who can feel the effects of climate change already, for example with typhoons,” Yanna Palo, 23, told AFP at a rally in the capital Manila.
“I don’t know if we’re on the frontline of the fight against climate change, but I hope so.”
Thailand
More than 200 young people in Thailand stormed into the environment ministry and dropped to the ground feigning death as they demanded government action on climate change.
The young strikers were chanting “Save our Earth” as they marched into the government compound, before lying down on the ground to play dead.
“This is what will happen if we don’t act on climate change now,” said one of the strike leaders, Nanticha Ocharoenchai, 21.
An official at the Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment was supportive of the student action.
“This is how the young people express their concerns, which we deem as a good sign and not at all a nuisance,” Adisorn Noochdumrong, deputy permanent secretary of the ministry, told Reuters.
Germany
In Germany, which has seen large-scale climate rallies for over a year, police said 17,000 people had gathered in the southwestern city of Freiburg, one of 500 cities across the country where protests were planned.
In the capital Berlin and Germany’s financial hub of Frankfurt some protesters staged brief road blockades to highlight their demands for a drastic reduction in the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, to which transport is a major contributor.
Under pressure from sustained protests over the past months, the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel is planning to announce a package of measures to reduce Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions later today.
