BUDE Climate Partnership led Bude’s response to all the ‘hot air’ at the COP26 conference in Glasgow on Saturday bringing attention to the risks that the town and community faces due to the climate crisis.

Peaceful demonstrators met at noon at the low-tide mark to walk up Crooklets beach, marking how sea-level rise will affect residents and businesses in Bude, which is the most sensitive place to sea-level rise in the UK, according to the Environment Agency.

A crowd of more than a hundred adults and children carried placards, singing a song based on ‘The Tide is High’ by Blondie. They walked from the shoreline to markers showing the predicted high-water marks in Bude in the 2030s, 2040s and 2050s.

Halfway up the beach they paused to write messages on a series of sand artworks created by local artists and residents. The march ended in the car park of Crooklets beach, where the high water is predicted to reach in the 2050s if nothing is done to address the impact of sea-level rise on the Bude shoreline.

“Even if all emissions ended tomorrow, sea-level rise and erosion will still impact on our shoreline” said Rob Uhlig, chair of Bude Climate Partnership. “Our projections are based on a realistic scenario from the Environment Agency if nothing is done to protect our community from the effects of sea-level rise.

“As a community we need to take ownership of this threat to ensure we decide how to protect the Bude we all love and cherish.”

Bude Climate Partnership is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund to conduct a series of research and engagement projects to investigate, test and develop positive ways to protect the Bude area and community against the impact of climate change.