A small but determined group have marched through Kerikeri to draw attention to climate change.
A small but determined group have marched through Kerikeri to draw attention to climate change.
A small but determined group braved Sunday's rain to march through Kerikeri to call on the government to take tougher action on climate change.
They carried placards reading "Save Our Planet" and were accompanied by a Buddhist monk and a boy on a unicycle.
The rally had extra poignancy forthe 30 or so people taking part because its initiator, the French-born sailor and environmentalist Yannick Wakelam, had died at her home in Kerikeri that morning. Friends said she would have wanted the march to go ahead.
The protest marked the beginning on Monday night, New Zealand time, of new global climate change talks in Paris. The aim of the UN-brokered talks is to hammer out new carbon emission targets to replace the Kyoto protocol signed in 1997.
More than 20,000 people took part in rallies around New Zealand on Saturday and Sunday. Northland events included protests in Rawene, Kerikeri and Whangarei.
Kerikeri man Rolf Mueller-Glodde said the government needed to substantially raise its "timid and pitiful" target for reducing carbon emissions, currently set at an 11 per cent reduction from 1990 levels by 2030. The target was an embarrassment for a country that purported to be clean and green, he said.
Mrs Wakelam was born in France and learned to sail on the Loire River. She became a teacher and saved up to buy a boat, spending eight years sailing solo around the world.
After stints in the UK, Japan and other places, she eventually settled in Kerikeri with husband Henry Wakelam, where they built their own house. She was passionate about environmental issues and campaigned on everything from reducing plastic bag waste to climate change.
