By IANS,
New Delhi : With just 100 days to go for the UN’s climate change talks in Copenhagen, green activists Friday unveiled a life-size ice sculpture here and let it melt on grass, warning global leaders to act fast on global warming by reducing pollution and carbon emissions.
At Copenhagen, world leaders will deliberate on agreeing to a historic treaty, on the pattern of the Kyoto Protocol, to tackle climate change. Green activists from India and China said that both the Asian powers must work together to put pressure on developed countries on this pressing issue, while committing themselves to reduce the greenhouse effect.
Sanjay Vashist of the Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA) said: “The developed nations have committed up to 16 percent reduction in green house gases by 2020 compared to the 1990 level. This will not halt the rise in temperature above four degree Celsius and have a negative impact on earth.”
He also said that not arresting global warming will lead to rapid melting of glaciers, which in return affect 1.3 billion people living in watershed areas of India and China.
Li Yan, a Greenpeace activist from China, said glacier melting will impact seven rivers in both countries and water will be a major problem for one third of the global population living in both countries.
Aditi Kapoor of Oxfam said that paddy cultivation in eastern Uttar Pradesh and of ground nuts in Andhra Pradesh have experienced a major problem due to climate change. “Changing temperature and erratic rainfall are already affecting agricultural yields. Our food security is at risk,” she said.
Yan said that in Beijing, Greenpeace Friday unveiled 100 ice sculptures of children highlighting that the future generation is at risk due to climate change.