PEOPLE from across West Devon joined millions of others over the weekend in demonstrations around the world putting pressure on world leaders to show solidarity for a ‘cleaner planet’.

As representatives from 195 countries arrived in Paris earlier this week for a critical UN climate summit to find a new global approach to climate change, demonstrations were held prior to the start of the two-week meeting, titled COP21, including a march up to the ancient Dartmoor Stannary Parliament site, Crockern Tor.

Nearly 150 people from across West Devon assembled at the Two Bridges Hotel on Sunday to walk, along with an almost life-size papier maché polar bear, to Crockern Tor to take a photograph which was sent to world leaders at the climate negotiations in Paris as part of a Shared Planet Parliament event.

Organiser of the Crocken Tor march Emily Fawcett said this was one of 2,300 marches across the world.

‘The recent terrorist attacks in Paris meant that the march planned there could not go ahead so it felt like the rest of the world was marching for them,’ she said. ‘It was really wonderful to have people from all sides of Dartmoor coming together to show their solidarity for a cleaner planet.

‘It was planned for the marches to start from each of the stannary towns — Chagford, Tavistock, Ashburton and Plympton — and finish at Two Bridges, but due to the bad weather we all met at Two Bridges and walked a short distance together. There was in the region of 150 people — we didn’t expect that many — it was amazing.’

Emily, whose daughter Lily made the giant model of the polar bear, the emblem for the day, said a shared plant parliament was what campaigners were calling for — a planet not just for humans but for all species.

‘We want to see an end to fossil fuels and a commitment to renewable energy. Britain is talking about stopping the use of coal but as yet the alternative is unknown.

‘As we further advance with technology we have become an ever more consumer society and our lives are completely entangled in car use. I believe we can live a life — a more basic and simple life — which impacts less on the planet.’

Every year since 1992 the Conference of the Parties has taken place with negotiators trying to put together a practical plan of action to deal with the issue of climate change. This year’s COP21 is the last chance for this process. Negotiators agreed in 2011 that a deal had to be done by the end of 2015.