On Sunday around tens of thousands of protesters went on streets in Amsterdam , calling the government to take stronger action against climate change.

Despite poor weather conditions, organisers estimated 40,000 people turned out for the protest.

“Our government must opt for real solutions for families, young people, small entrepreneurs, employees and farmers,” environmental organisation Milieudefensie said on its website.

“The big polluters have to pay fairly…The climate is not waiting.”

Banners carried throughout the demonstration shared a range of messages, challenging the government to “change the system,” or “down with borders, up with forests,” and one that simply read: “help.”

According to a January report from the Dutch Environmental Assessment Agency, the Netherlands was trailing far behind climate targets set for 2020.

A Dutch climate change researcher and a lead author on a recent report for the UN’s Intergovernmental Panal on Climate Change, Heleen de Coninck pointed out on Sunday that the world is changing fast, no matter how we turn it.

She said, the Netherlands will never be the same again, with ambitious climate policy or without.