Getting
to Copenhagen by rail and on foot – on track for um
climate talks
Nairobi,
24 November 2009 - There may be less than two weeks to go
until the UN Climate conference in Copenhagen, but intrepid
explorers, adventurers and rail enthusiasts have set off
early using a variety of low carbon ways to reach their
final destination.
UNEP
climate change hero, Roz Savage, a British ocean rower and
environmental campaigner, is taking her message to the climate
change conference on foot. Ms Savage set off from the famous
Ben Big landmark in London last Friday 20th and is now walking
200 miles to the railway station in Brussels.
Accompanying
her, World Champion extreme free-skier and founder of The
Save Our Snow Foundation , American Alison Gannett is walking
the 200 miles with snow skis on her back.
In
an email to UNEP staff she wrote: "I am doing this
to help raise awareness on the importance of saving our
snow, both for the fun sports we love such as skiing, but
more importantly that half the world depends on snow and
ice melt for drinking and irrigation water."
From
Brussels, both walkers will join the Climate Express train
which is taking more than 400 climate change negotiators,
campaigners and high-profile personalities to Copenhagen.
Meanwhile,
last week, a small team of environmental experts, NGOs and
journalists left Kyoto, Japan on an epic 9,000 kilometre-long
journey from Kyoto to Copenhagen, most of it by train.
The
group boarded the Trans-Siberian Express in Vladivostok,
Russia on Saturday and will document the impacts of climate
change, raise awareness of low-carbon transport solutions,
and gather signatures for the UN led Seal the Deal! Climate
Petition.
Led
by the International Union of Railways in partnership with
UNEP, WWF and Russian Railways, the journey through Russia
will cover Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Novgorod,
ending up in Moscow. A member of UNEP's Moscow office, Ludmila
Khorosheva, will join the train in Novosibirsk on Thursday.
Each
stop will give the team the opportunity to meet local environment
authorities and discover innovative railway technologies,
as well as witness the impact of climate change on the Russian
territory.
From
Moscow, members of the team will continue via rail to Copenhagen.
Travelling
by rail is on average 3-10 times less CO2 intensive compared
with road or air transport. With 7-10% of market share,
rail still only contributes just 2% of the EU transport
sector's CO2 emissions.
Passengers
on the train are documenting their experiences through blogs
and interviews at http://www.traintocopenhagen.org.
Roz
Savage and Alison Gannett are also documenting their experiences
at: www.rozsavage.com and http://www.alisongannett.com/Alison_Gannett/Blog/Blog.html
Da
United Nations Environment Programme
