Environmental campaigners march through London to demand action on global warming

Environmental campaigners marched through London today to demand action to combat the threat of global warning, one of many demonstrations scheduled around the world to coincide with critical climate talks in Montreal, Canada. Other marches were expected in 32 countries, including Canada, Japan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Australia and South Africa.

The London march was organized by Britain's Campaign Against Climate Change, an umbrella body encompassing many environmental and political groups. The parade passed Downing Street, home of Prime Minister Tony Blair, where protesters handed in a letter demanding that the government reaffirm its commitment to an international climate treaty with legally binding targets on emissions reductions.

Friends of the Earth is calling for a new law to ensure that this and future British governments reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 3 percent every year from now until 2050.

Leading industrialized nations including Britain _ but not the United States _ have ratified the Kyoto Protocol, which commits them to cutting carbon dioxide levels to 5.2 per cent below 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012. However, many are struggling to meet that target, the AP reports.

"If he (U.S. President George W. Bush) thinks (Hurricane) Katrina was bad, there are a lot worse hurricanes on their way if he doesn't change his policy," Britain's former Environment Minister Michael Meacher told demonstrators outside the U.S. embassy in London after the march. A.M.