Huq hails People's Climate march ahead of UN summit

Saleemul Huq, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), has hailed the success of Sunday's People's Climate change march in New York.

News, 23 September 2014

In a video blog about the march, Huq said he hopes the event will be a wake-up call to world leaders before they meet at the United Nations on Tuesday discuss action to prevent climate change.

Nearly 400,000 people marched through the streets of New York – more than four times the pre-march estimates. The New York event was part of a worldwide campaign to call attention to concerns about climate change ahead of the summit. Some 1,500 marches were planned in 138 countries.

The campaign was designed to put pressure on government leaders ahead of this week's UN Climate Summit. The summit is being hosted by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and will be attended by more than 125 world leaders, including US President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, South Korean President Park Geun-hye, and UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

The New York march was led by indigenous and frontline communities who came from across the globe to highlight the disproportionate impact of climate change on their environments. Huq marched with the Bangladeshi community, while IIED director Camilla Toulmin wa also present for the New York march.

Marchers, including Saleemul Huq, at the New York climate change march (Photos: IIED)

Huq, also the director of the International Center for Climate Change Adaptation and Development (ICCCAD), is one of 38 civil society representatives invited to attend the climate summit. A member of the IIED-convened Least Developed Countries Independent Expert Group, Farah Kabir, was also selected to attend.

Huq wrote about his plans for New York in a recent blog, and will be tweeting from New York. He can be followed at @saleemulhuq.