Campaigners from Christian aid agency Tearfund have handed a 10,000-strong petition to the Government urging them to help poor people in the developing world adapt to the effects of climate change.

Members of Tearfund handed in the postcard petition – which has been signed by supporters from across the country – to the Department for Energy and Climate Change in Whitehall on Thursday.

The postcards call on the government to take action for the sake of the world’s poor at next week’s international climate change talks in Poland, by making sure they get enough funding to adapt to climate change.

They also urge all countries, especially the richest who have contributed most to climate change, to commit to making big cuts in carbon emissions by 2050 and for a global deal to be reached by the end of next year.

Tearfund’s Advocacy Director, Paul Cook, who was at the hand-in, said, “Climate change is devastating many poor people’s lives. Tearfund’s local church partners across the world report that crop yields are declining and disease and malnutrition are increasing.

“World leaders must agree a strong climate deal by the end of 2009, with deep cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions and funding to help poor communities cope. Otherwise, climate change may destroy millions of lives and undo decades of development work.

“Thousands of people in the UK have shown that they care about people living in poverty by signing the postcards, now we are calling on the government to show they care.”