EXTINCTION rebellion activists draped banners over the existing “welcome to Bournemouth” and “safe journey” messages on the footbridge over the A338.

The message for traffic heading into Bournemouth read “welcome to extinction” while the outbound message read “no safe journey to climate chaos”.

Helen Nicol, activist and healthcare professional from Poole said: “We want to send a clear message to government that they must take immediate action on the climate, ecological and humanitarian crisis.

“The pandemic presented a unique moment to turn things around but so far the government has completely failed to act at anything like the scale and urgency that is needed.

“This is why we need a proper legal framework like the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill to force governments to protect those at risk from climate catastrophe now and in the future.”

The action comes after the government’s committee on climate change (CCC) warned all departments to prepare for “a minimum 2C rise in global temperature with consideration of 4C” in June.

Melissa Carrington, from Christchurch said: “We’re taking action now, in a Covid-safe way, to push the issue up to the top of our local and national agenda.

“We need the support of as many MPs as possible so that the bill can move forward, so we’re asking people to write to their MPs asking them to back the CEE Bill.”