Climate march in Edinburgh on day one of COP26
- Published
Demonstrators walked to the Scottish Parliament
Extinction Rebellion activists have marched through Edinburgh in solidarity with protests taking place across the world during the COP26 climate summit.
The demonstrators walked through the city to a rally at the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood.
Among those who addressed the crowd was Monicah Kamandau, a climate activist from Kenya.
"I am in Kenya and I face the climate crisis first hand," she told protestors.
It came on day one of COP26, as thousands of delegates arrived in Glasgow for the international summit seen as crucial to bringing climate change under control.
Monicah Kamandau told demonstrators of her first hand experience of climate change
Speaking later to BBC Scotland, the 27-year-old said: "When you're in Kenya, you don't think climate change is just a discussion, it's your everyday life, it's your everyday experience.
"Kenya is an agricultural country so we depend on farming a lot which means in the last few years when the rainfall is not consistent, most people lost their livelihood.
"This has been the first hand experience for many Kenyans, including me. My mum was a subsistence farmer and right now she doesn't grow much."
On COP26, she added: "I am hopeful but a part of me is pessimistic... we have had these meetings every year. Nothing much has changed."
Participant Mike Grant, 61, from Rosewell, Midlothian, said: "I am marching today to make clear to those gathering for COP26 that the people demand far bolder and far faster action now.
"Every fraction of a degree avoided is a life, a town, a species saved somewhere in the world.
"Our children's children deserve nothing less from a generation that did so much to cause the problem."
Another activist from Edinburgh who works in social care said: "I'm an ordinary person and have never thought of myself as an activist, but this will take every one of us, on the streets, demanding that our governments treat this like the emergency it is.
"If you have children, if you know children, the future looks terrifying, but the worst can be averted if our leaders act decisively now."
Thousands of activists have also gathered at the summit in Glasgow this weekend to make their concerns known to the world leaders around the negotiating table.
Up to 30,000 people will descend on Scotland's largest city from Sunday until 14 November for the crucial climate change talks.
The COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow in November is seen as crucial if climate change is to be brought under control. Almost 200 countries are being asked for their plans to cut emissions, and it could lead to major changes to our everyday lives.
