France To Continue With Climate Summit After Paris Attacks

“The French officials are asking the population to go out in the quartiers, to drink wine, to go to work, because we can not surrender to terrorists threats, and at the same time, they don’t allow demonstrations and marches in the streets”.

The US Embassy is illuminated with the colors of the French national flag in Paris, Monday Nov. 16, 2015, after a series of coordinated attacks in Paris that killed more than 120 people and injured over 350 last Friday…

Security concerns also may prevent climate activists from staging a massive march like the one in New York City past year, in which hundreds of thousands of ordinary people could demonstrate widespread support for curbing carbon emissions and fighting global warming. French authorities announced they will strengthen security around the summit, which will take place on the outskirts of Paris. The announcement came from the French Prime Minister, Mr. Manuel Valls on Monday.

But he added that they are “putting their travel plans where their mouths are”, meaning that their presence in Paris should be seen as proof of how seriously they take the climate issue. But he said in a statement that the COP21 would continue to welcome civil society organizations, which “play a major role” in the two-week summit.

Concerts, exhibitions and other festivities related to the UN Climate Summit have also been cancelled in the wake of the Paris terror attacks.

Additionally, Deputy Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and UN Assistant-Secretary-General Ibrahim Thiaw voiced hope that the conference would end with a sustainable contract to fight climate changes.

Given still-rising global emissions, the Paris talks have widely been referred to as a “last chance” in slowing humanity’s adverse impact on the climate. On Tuesday, environmental groups will meet French authorities to make plans to move ahead of the conference.

Aquino said he had not decided if he will attend the climate conference owing to the problem of El Niño in the Philippines.

The organizers are planning to emulate the People’s Climate March that happened in NY in 2014 where it gathered more than 100,000 people across the globe, making it the largest protest in history against climate change.