The greens boarded a traditional country craft and sailed through the Kochi backwaters aimed at creating public awareness on the climate summit to be held at Copenhagen in December.

Vipin, group co-ordinator of the event, said that the event was part of the ongoing efforts being made by Greenpeace to step up public opinion on climate change.

According to the demands raised by the international NGO, the governments must agree to make adequate emission cuts. Industrialised countries should cut emissions by 40 per cent by 2020 and developing countries should ensure emission cuts by 15 to 30 per cent.

Greenpeace activists said that the governments should also commit to end deforestation by 2030. Deforestation causes 20 per cent of greenhouse pollution worldwide, so climate change can’t be stopped without protecting forests. This must be done in a way that protects indigenous communities and biodiversity, they said.

Estimates by Greenpeace suggested that industrialised countries have caused 80 per cent of greenhouse pollution in the atmosphere. We have grown rich through industrialisation while polluting the planet and the atmosphere. Climate impacts will hit developing countries much harder than the developed world and we have a moral obligation to help them address the problem, it said. Mr. Vipin said that cities like Kochi also face the threat of global warming thanks to human interference in nature.