Thousands in SA Vote Earth

2009-12-15 14:18

Cape Town - The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on Monday handed over the results of the Vote Earth campaign to The Presidency, ahead of President Zuma's departure for the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen later this week.

The Vote Earth campaign calls on ordinary citizens, businesses and community groups from around the world to show their support for a fair, effective and binding agreement to be reached in Copenhagen.

Thousands of South Africans voted online, thousands more voted with a pen, signing big, pilates ball globes at taxi ranks in Cape Town and Soweto. In total, more than 140 000 signatures were collected during the Vote Earth and Earth Hour campaigns.

“Many thousands of South Africans have Voted Earth over global warming,” said Head of the WWF Living Planet Unit, Saliem Fakir.

"It is our hope that President Zuma will follow suit and remain outspoken in calling for decisive action on climate change at the summit.

"This meeting presents South Africa with an opportunity to demonstrate leadership on this issue and help secure an historic deal in Copenhagen."

Symbol of global unity

Hundreds of thousands of votes have been collected from around the world. These votes will be presented to leaders and country negotiators on Wednesday evening as part of the Earth Hour/Hopenhagen event taking place in Copenhagen.

The pivotal moment of the evening will see UN General Secretary, Ban Ki-Moon being presented with The People's Orb - a shimmering 20cm silver metal sphere encasing a 350 gigabyte hard drive containing individual expressions of hope from around the world.

This symbol of global unity has been relayed across the world collecting hundreds of millions of stories, voices, images and action of everyday people: a call to world leaders to take definitive action on climate change.

More than 60 Heads of State are expected to attend the high-level talks which will commence on Thursday. It is hoped that these leaders will be able to unlock an ambitious and legally binding deal in the final two days of the summit.

- News24