Copenhagen : As the Copenhagen climate summit entered its final week, with no less than 120 Heads of State participating, the four horsemen of the apocalypse (1) today descended on Copenhagen to remind them of what is at stake if they fail to take urgent action and agree a fair, ambitious and legally binding deal to avert a climate catastrophe in comings days.

The four horses represent Famine, Pestilence, War and Death - severe
and interrelated impacts of unchecked climate change. They circled the
Danish parliament and rode the streets of Copenhagen sending an
ominous reminder of what the future will look like if world leaders do
not tackle the climate crisis.

“The spectre of the four horseman is looming over these climate
negotiations - tackling climate change is about life and death for
millions of people,” said Sini Harkki, from Greenpeace Nordic. “Yet
world leaders are still failing to grasp the urgency of the crisis.

“They must stop playing poker with the planet and lay their cards on
the table to agree a fair, ambitious and legally binding treaty that
will banish the horsemen. The time to pull us back from the brink of
catastrophic climate change is now. If they act now they can change
the future.”

The horsemen and climate impacts:

Pestilence – the white horse represents the devastating health impacts
millions will suffer as a result of climate change, worsened by
malnutrition. Global warming will intensify diseases such as dengue
and malaria and cause them to spread further.

War – the red horse represents the threat of increased violent
conflict from climate change. Changing conditions for settlement,
agriculture, mining, transportation, diseases and disasters will lead
to local resource wars, and to international conflicts mainly through
mass migration and power shifts

Famine – the black horse represents the impact that climate change

will have on already scarce food supplies across the world. In some
areas of the tropics, a temperature increases of 1-2°C may destroy
harvests, and crops will also be wiped out by more frequent and
intense floods and droughts

Death – the pale horse represents the fact that an estimated 300,000
people a year are already dying because of climate change. A toll that
is projected to rise to at least half a million people per year by
2030.

GreenPeace