Tens of thousands turn out for protests as activists deliver letter calling on parliament to declare climate emergency

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Tens of thousands of children and adults in New Zealand have stopped work and school on Friday to take part in the country’s third climate strike, billed as the biggest yet and the first display of “intergenerational” action.

More than 40 towns around the country were holding marches with 260 businesses involved, including most of the country’s tertiary institutions.

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New Zealand’s strike was being held a week later than hundreds of thousands took to the streets in other parts of the world, including Australia, Britain and the US, because some high school students had exams last Friday.

A open-letter signed by 11,000 New Zealanders was delivered to parliament on Friday morning calling on the government to declare a climate emergency – following the lead of numerous councils around the country.

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“Our representatives need to show us meaningful and immediate action that safeguards our futures on this planet,” School Strike 4 Climate national coordinator Raven Maeder said.

“Nothing else will matter if we cannot look after the Earth for current and future generations. This is our home.”

North Island organiser Sophie Handford, 18, told RNZ she hoped 50,000 people would march.

“There’s way too much at stake to let it pass by. We’ll be at the doors of parliament many more times until we see the action that is necessary.”

The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has taken a leading role on the global stage in the fight against the climate crisis, calling it her generation’s “nuclear-free moment”.

Dr. Lucky Tran (@luckytran) Look at this massive wave of people in Dunedin, New Zealand! #ClimateStrike pic.twitter.com/8hFMAvRTGf

In the keynote address of the Climate Change Summit in New York, Ardern took a characteristically optimistic tone, saying pessimism led to apathy.

“You may well argue that, based on our current trajectory, now is not the time for optimism,” Ardern said.

“But if we only talk about the loss of glacier mass or sea level rises we run the risk of a society that believes all is lost and that it is simply too late … it is not”.

Under Ardern’s leadership New Zealand has set a goal of making the country zero carbon by 2050.

In New York on Wednesday night she announced climate trade initiative that would remove tariffs on green technology and cut fossil fuel subsidies.

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It was announced along with leaders from Fiji, Iceland, Norway and Costa Rica at the United Nations, with formal talks expected to begin next year, with the hope of eventually achieving treaty status.

“There’s an urgent and critical need for increased global action if we are to limit global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels,” said Ardern.

She added: “The case for using trade rules to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies is particularly compelling.”

However, Ardern was criticised this week for failing to raise the topic of climate change in her first bilateral meeting with Donald Trump. New Zealand lags behind many other OECD countries in basic climate-friendly action such as recycling and dependence on petrol and diesel vehicles.