Peasants demand concrete agreements in Cancun

Thousands of peasants led by the international movement, Via Campesina, protested on Tuesday in Cancun, Quintana Roo, demanding "concrete agreements" at the 16th Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP16), a Xinhua eyewitness reported.

About 3,000 peasants protested on the highway that goes from the center of Cancun to the International Airport, in a rally on behalf of global warming.

"This is a fight so that the international community will take notice", Rafael Alegria, leader of Via Campesina of Honduras, told Xinhua.

The protesters marched to the Moon Palace Hotel where this afternoon the high-level meeting of the COP16 will begin, however security will prevent them from getting too close.

Bolivian Raymundo Colsa said that "we do not want a second Copenhagen; we want a completely different result from this conference; real proposals, a significant reduction in emissions."

The majority of protesters support the agreements from the People's World Conference on Climate Change, which was held in April in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

The agreements from Cochabamba state that the International Monetary Fund should not manage funds from developed countries to the countries most affected by climate change.

They also ask that all countries accept the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth.

The climate change conference, which began on Nov. 29, enters the high-level stage on Tuesday as disputes over the extension of the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012 remain unresolved.

Source: Xinhua