Durban, South Africa — It was better than being in the classroom. In Durban today 2,000 students from local schools became climate change activists when they gathered on the beachfront, took their places to form a huge lion complete with mane, and roared.
Their goal was to urge leaders in Durban for COP17-CMP7, the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol (CMP7), to have the courage to create a breakthrough agreement that will ensure a safe future for young Africans and people all over the world.
The youngsters joined members of the global TckTckTck campaign for climate action in creating the world’s largest human lion on South Beach.
Stars of the event were the more than 2,000 students from Durban schools including Addington Primary, Hartley Primary, Vumukhule Primary, Tholisu Primary and Sawela Primary.
TckTckTck Board Chairman and Greenpeace chief Kumi Naidoo was at the beach and made a short speech. Environmental educator and social justice artist John Quigley photographed the lion from a helicopter above Addington Beach.
TckTckTck is the public campaign of the Global Campaign for Climate Action. The GCCA is an alliance of more than 300 non-profits around the world. The shared mission is to mobilize civil society and galvanize public support to ensure a safe climate future for people and nature, to promote the low-carbon transition of our economies, and to accelerate the adaptation efforts in communities already affected by climate change.
COP17 continues in Durban through December 9.
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