Campaigners join London march for global action on climate change

Campaigners will march through central London this weekend to demand global action on climate change, in one of thousands of events worldwide ahead of a UN climate summit.

Some 2,000 events are taking place in 150 countries on Sunday, with more than 100,000 people expected to take to the streets of New York – where next week's summit is being held – to demand leaders take action to tackle rising temperatures. The summit has been convened by the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, in a bid to drive action and momentum towards talks in Paris in 2015, where it is hoped a new global climate treaty can be agreed.

In London, campaigners will be joined by celebrities including actress Emma Thompson and musician Peter Gabriel, and church bells will ring to mark the march through Westminster to parliament, where speeches and a rally will be held.

Thompson said: "There is little time left to prevent the worst excesses of climate change, yet our world leaders continue to stall.

"I've witnessed the impact climate change is already having on the melting Arctic and on poverty-stricken communities in the developing world. We can't go on pretending nothing's happening. I'll be at the march, and I hope I see you all there."

In a statement posted on his website, Peter Gabriel said: "This big blue ball is the only possible home for humanity in the near future. If our family home was being destroyed and poisoned in the same way, we would do something immediately.

"This is not just a campaign for activists, but for everyone who wants to live on a planet capable of sustaining us. We will only achieve a sustainable future if global citizens demand global action."

Alex Wilks, campaign director of Avaaz, one of the organisations supporting the march, said: "On 21 September people will join together in huge numbers in the streets of London, and all over the world, calling on leaders to stop climate change destroying everything we love."

Other events around the world include an event in rural Papua New Guinea, where primary school students will march to a lighthouse semi-submerged due to rising sea levels, and a demonstration at the US-Canadian border near Vancouver, where people will link hands to show climate change knows no borders.

In New York, Ban has said he will join marchers who are demanding "action not words" at the summit next week, which is being attended by more than 120 world leaders including the British prime minister, David Cameron.

WWF-UK's chief executive, David Nussbaum, who is attending the summit, said: "Next week's summit in New York is a special opportunity for the prime minister to show international leadership and clarity of vision – to protect so much about the world around us that so many of us hold dear.

"Action on climate change needs rapidly to build momentum towards a global climate agreement in 2015 to build a positive future for both people and nature."

Ahead of the summit, major investor institutions and business leaders have joined calls for action on tackling global greenhouse gas emissions.