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Your letters: Pilgrimage for climate change
The Peopleâs Pilgrimage â by individuals around the world to urge for a strong climate change treaty to emerge from the UN climate change negotiations in Paris this November â initiated its India tour on Friday
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he People's Pilgrimage ' by individuals around the world to urge for a strong climate change treaty to emerge from the UN climate change negotiations in Paris this November ' initiated its India tour on Friday.
Led by Yeb Saño, Philippine climate change commissioner and senior negotiator at the UN talks until his resignation in April this year, the pilgrimage is a project of our voices (www.ourvoices.net) the global interfaith campaign for climate action. Saño's widely reported emotional statement at the 2013 UN negotiations in Warsaw, describing the destruction of his home city of Tacloban by Super Typhoon Haiyan, has inspired cooperation across faith groups.
The arrival in India of this interfaith global environmental movement is seen as an important milestone in a country that has suffered the extremes of climate through heat waves, droughts, floods and cyclones but also shows leadership with massive investment in clean solar power. Saño is also slated to visit the Solar Park in Gujarat, Varanasi, Visakhapatnam and the Kumbh Mela in Nasik.
Accompanied by a group of climate change advocates and faith community representatives, he walked this afternoon from Raj Ghat to Jantar Mantar. 'The Pilgrimage is our way of reminding the whole world about the reality of climate change and reflecting on the state of our planet,' he said.
'The People's Pilgrimage is a global expression of sincere concern and calls on our world leaders to find the reciprocal sincerity and generosity ' on all sides ' and determination to reach a strong climate change agreement. Every step counts. Our aim is to show the world why this climate crisis matters to all of us.'
Pilgrims from across the world will converge in Paris and state their demands to the world's governments in time for the opening on Nov. 30 of the 21st Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 21). They will insist that the agreement the conference is tasked to adopt contain a full range of measures relating to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, adaptation to climate impacts, technology and finance and a long-term goal.
Vanya Walker-Leigh
India
