Call for QLDC to declare climate emergency

A newly-fledged environmental group is calling on the Queenstown Lakes District Council to declare a climate and ecological emergency.
Extinction Rebellion Queenstown Lakes will make the request at the council's full meeting next Thursday, it said in a statement.

It wanted the council to formally declare it agrees with scientific evidence about climate change and "ecological crises'', and to incorporate the evidence into its decision making.

"We are also asking the council to use its role as a community leader to clearly communicate the reality of what we are facing and what needs to happen to our local community.''

Several councils in New Zealand have already made similar declarations.

The planet was on track to reach 450 parts per million of carbon dioxide in its atmosphere by 2030, 20 years earlier than predicted a few years ago.

"We only have 10 years left to avoid runaway climate breakdown - this is an emergency.''

The group staged its first action - erecting a banner in front of a landmark tree in Lake Wanaka - in April.

It is part of the international Extinction Rebellion movement, founded last year in the United Kingdom, which made headlines for large protests in London.