Petition seeks Australia national climate emergency

An Australian MP on Tuesday presented a petition signed by over 400,000 people, to Parliament seeking declaration of a national climate emergency.

Independent MP Zali Steggall said in Facebook video that her petition had 404,538 signatures that represent voices of frustration and commitment for actions against climate change, reports Efe news.

The petition called for lawmakers to "immediately act and declare a climate emergency in Australia" and urgently enact a law to "reduce the causes of anthropogenic climate change".

The Australian Greens party announced its support for the motion in the lower house, where it has little chance of getting through as it is controlled by the ruling conservative coalition.

Environmentalists have criticized Canberra for continuing to support industries involved in the extraction of fossil fuels, detracting from the Paris Agreement.

The agreement aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Australia has seen a steady increase in emissions of polluting gases since 2013, when the conservative coalition came to power and revoked the tax on these emissions.

The country accounts for 5 per cent of global emissions. At the current rate of exploitation and use of fossil fuels, the figure is expected to reach 17 per cent by 2030, which would make it one of the largest pollutants in the world, an environmental group said.

Australia is vulnerable to climate change and in recent years has witnessed major wildfires and drought conditions, besides a significant bleaching of corals at the Great Barrier Reef.

( With inputs from IANS )