Protesters rally in Malaga over climate change: 'The situation is critical'

More than a hundred municipalities in Spain joined the demonstrations called by the Climate Alliance on Saturday, 15 November. The rallies coincided with the Climate Summit in Brazil to demand "a just ecological transition".

In Malaga, about 20 demonstrators gathered in Paseo del Parque under the slogan 'El clima exige acción, el futuro esperanza' ('The climate demands action, the future hope'). One of the coordinators of WWF, Claudia Berlini, told SUR that their aim is to make town halls change the way they approach decision-making, which often goes against sustainability.

The manifesto on Saturday warned that the situation in the world is at a "critical moment", "marked by an unjust economic model that keeps us dependent on fossil fuels". In the case of Malaga, they evidenced this by pointing to the extended heatwaves, the storms, the fires and the floods that have been hitting the province in recent years.

The demonstrators criticised governments for not taking actions in the face of the climate crisis. Head of Greenpeace's climate change campaign Pedro Zorrilla Miras stated that, "in the absence of leadership", such protests are the only tool citizens have to stop "big fossil fuel companies from poisoning the planet".

Other municipalities that joined Malaga in the rally on Saturday were Madrid, Bilbao, Logroño, Valencia, Granada, Córdoba, Pamplona, Barcelona and Burgos. The demonstrations showed support for the UN Climate Summit (COP30) held in Brazil that same day. On a global scale, Climate Alliance brought together 40 environmental organisations, international cooperation organisations, trade unions and NGOs , hoping to achieve "the biggest climate rally of the year".