Rotorua residents are being asked to show their support for nuclear weapon disarmament at a ceremony being held in the city on Sunday.
Community leaders and members of the public will join Wellington Mayor and global Mayors for Peace executive member Celia Wade-Brown, and Labour Party MP and chairman of the New Zealand Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Phil Goff, from 1pm at the Peace Memorial at Centennial Park in Tihi-o-tonga.
Event organiser Ian Gordon said the ceremony would also mark International Day of Peace, which was officially held on September 21, and show support for a Nuclear Zero Petition and the people of the Marshall Islands where nuclear weapons testing was carried out during the 1960s and '70s.
Mr Gordon said more than 15,000 people had already signed the petition calling for the nine nuclear armed states to dispose of their nuclear arsenals. That would be presented to Mr Goff at the ceremony.
Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick and former mayor Grahame Hall will also speak at the event.
"The reality is that the world has an appearance of relative security, and when we look at things like the refugee crisis for many of us it's thousands of kilometres away - but nothing exists in isolation. All these events are connected one way or another.
"If these nuclear weapons were unleashed there would not be a planet to look after.
"Peace is the most fleeting of endeavours and even the most peaceful society can be turned around through minor events.
"Just because we think we are isolated here in the Pacific Ocean doesn't mean we should live isolation," Mr Gordon said.
•To sign the Nuclear Zero Petition visit www.sginz.org/home/nuclear-zero-petition