Climate change strikes worldwide — in pictures

Young activists in Berlin took a dip in the city's Spree River to demonstrate their desire for more action on climate change. Their protest took place as Germany's upper house of parliament passed a raft of measures aimed at cutting emissions. However, critics of the package said it did not go far enough.

Thousands of protesters gathered in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate to voice dissatisfaction with a perceived lack of urgency on the part of the government. Some 50,000 people took part, demanding a "new start" for the government's climate policy.

"The climate is changing, why aren't we?" ask these protesters Rome. The historic Italian city of Venice was recently flooded, with the local mayor blaming climate change for the highest tide in 50 years. Climate protests took place in 138 Italian towns and cities, according to Fridays for Future Italia, including in major urban centers like Rome, Milan, Turin, Naples and Palermo.

Activists and schoolchildren in Sydney kicked off the latest round of global protests against climate change on Friday by picketing the headquarters of Australia's ruling party. The protesters — brandishing placards that read "You're burning our future" and chanting "we will rise" — turned out as Sydney was again enveloped in toxic smoke caused by bushfires.

The protests have taken on extra urgency in Australia — the country's southeast has been devastated by hundreds of damaging bushfires in recent weeks. Wildfires and drought have left the koala bear on the verge of "functional" extinction.

Hundreds of people marched through Tokyo's Shinjuku district to show their support for the Fridays For Future movement. Japan is no exception to abnormal weather patterns around the world in recent years. The island nation has been hit by increasingly frequent typhoons, and also by hotter weather. In October, Typhoon Hagibis ripped through central and north-eastern Japan, killing scores of people.

Demonstrations also took place in Indonesia, where – in an effort to to protect tropical forests - the government has issued a temporary ban on permits for palm plantations. However, critics say a lack of transparency has made it difficult to evaluate the moratorium's effectiveness. The global palm oil trade has been blamed as a major contributor to climate change by causing loss of vegetation.

In Delhi — the world's most polluted capital — students staged a march to the environment ministry carrying placards and demanding that the government declare a climate emergency. The country is one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gases and has 14 of the 15 most polluted cities in the world, according to a UN study.

The protests took place as negotiators from some 200 countries prepared to meet for the COP25 climate conference in Madrid. Participants are seeking clearer rules on how to meet the requirements of the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change. The accord aims to limit the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius.