Climate-change rally in UK seeks curb on warming

LONDON, Nov 5 (Reuters) Thousands of environmental campaigners rallied in London on Saturday ahead of international talks on climate change in Kenya, demanding that world leaders act to curb global warming.

The event included a march from the United States embassy in protest against US President George W Bush's refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on cutting climate-warming gases from fossil fuels.

Police said around 10,000 people, including 450 cyclists, had gathered yesterday in Trafalgar Square in the capital's centre.

''People have realised that climate change is a humanitarian issue, a peace-and-security issue, an economic issue, as much as it is a green issue,'' Ashok Sinha, director of organisers Stop Climate Chaos (SCC), said.

''That's why we have such a diverse range of voices here today.'' He told BBC television the event brought together people from all walks of life including bird watchers, religious bodies, trade unions and women's groups.

SCC, a broad coalition of green, scientific and charitable bodies, called on Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour government to negotiate an international deal to keep the overall warming of the earth's environment below 2 degrees centigrade.

United Nations climate talks involving 189 nations start next week in the Kenyan capital Nairobi to negotiate a successor to the UN's Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012.

Reaching a deal is expected to take up to three or more years.

A British government-backed report published on Monday painted an apocalyptic picture about any failure to act on global warming.

The report by former World Bank chief economist Nicholas Stern warned of economic collapse if the world failed to grasp the much smaller costs of tackling climate change.

Levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hit a record last year and are likely to keep rising unless emissions are radically cut, the World Meteorological Organisation said on Friday.

REUTERS PB VC0840