Supermodel Christensen reveals snapshot of climate change

Supermodel Helena Christensen warned climate change was already a "devastating reality" for millions, as an exhibition of photographs she took in Peru documenting the impacts of global warming went on show in London.

The Danish model took the pictures while travelling earlier this year to her mother's home country with aid agency Oxfam, which is concerned that Peru is the world's third most vulnerable country to global warming.

More than a fifth of the surface of the country's glaciers have been lost in the last 30 years, and people are suffering from food and water scarcity in the face of the melting ice, changing seasons and rising temperatures, Oxfam said.

The exhibition of photographs was first unveiled at the UN in New York in September when world leaders met to discuss climate change, and is on a global tour heading for the UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen in December.

As she launched the exhibition in London, Ms Christensen called on politicians to take the "drastic steps" needed to tackle greenhouse gas emissions and rising temperatures, and for the British public to support The Wave, a demonstration in London on December 5 urging action on climate change.

She said: "For so many of us, climate change is a distant idea belonging in the future, but for millions of people in developing countries, it is a devastating reality.

"We can begin to change this by demanding that world leaders meeting in Copenhagen move towards cutting emissions and providing funding so that poor communities can protect themselves from climate change.

"By coming together at The Wave, thousands of voices can be one loud clamour for urgent action at Copenhagen for the sake of generations to come."