"Only pressure from civil society can save the planet," insisted Elis Ngacimek, a 30-year-old American from Kodiak Island, Alaska, where the effects of global warming are being felt and "really worrying me."

He is one of 500 volunteers helping out at the Peoples' Climate Summit, which is expected to draw some 10,000 participants.

"I like to meet people from all over the world, exchange ideas. It's great fun, even if the situation is not," Ngacimek told AFP.

A harried spokeswoman for the forum whose phone was ringing off the hook, Kristine Holten-Andersen, said the event was open to anyone who wanted to take part.

"Everybody can present their ideas, discuss them and develop constructive solutions to the climate crisis, far from the redundant official speeches," she said in between phone calls.

With its headquarters located in a modern sporting facility in central Copenhagen, the alternative summit is a colourful festival featuring 150 debates and lectures, 50 films, plays, concerts and exhibits.

Piling up burlap bags, the kind used by islanders in India's Ganges delta to protect themselves from the floods brought on by cyclones and monsoons, Pradip Saha of New Delhi's Center for Science and Environment said the climate woes were "real" in his country.

"Every year you have flooding and once you have flooding with sea water, the land becomes saline and you can't farm it," he said, showing films and photos to hit the message home.

"These are very poor people, their carbon footprint is almost zero. They don't have cars but they are in the front line and most affected by climate change," he lamented.

Meanwhile, a group of Danish high school students visiting the forum with their teacher tried to understand the situation for islands that risk disappearing under the sea if waters continue to rise.

"It's interesting to talk to the people from these countries to learn how they are coping with the threat of climate change," said 14-year-old Nicco Halberg.

Not too far away, a group of women in their 60s sitting under Tibet posters sipped organic coffees, their blue t-shirts emblazoned with the message "How long can we wait? We are not waiting".

"We're trying to convince women to make dinners with less beef and more fruit and vegetables, and to use recycled bags to do their shopping," said Karen Inger Callisen, a member of the Danish section of the women's network Soroptimist International.

The forum also allows developing countries -- which are negotiating highly technical texts at the UN-led talks several kilometres (miles) away -- to vent their frustration over the situation they find themselves in.

Industrialised countries "have to pay their climate debt now," said Guillermo, a participant from Bolivia.

"For a lot of poor countries, it's a question of survival. The polluters have to pay if there is to be any justice."

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