More than 134 countries across the world, including the UK, switched off their lights for an hour on Sunday to support action to create a sustainable future for the planet.

Environmental charity World Wildlife Fund has organised the Earth Hour event which saw iconic buildings such as Big Ben, the BT Tower, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Edinburgh Castle, Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, Stormont in Northern Ireland and Cardiff's Millennium Centre blacking out for an hour.

The event, which took place at 8.30pm Sunday around the world, started in Fiji, New Zealand and Australia.

The aim is to highlight the charity's call on governments, organisations and individuals to pledge their commitment to tackling climate change.

At the Royal Albert Hall in London, television presenter Kirsty Gallacher led a team of 60 cyclists from the UK-World Wildlife Fund to create a huge human-powered projection with images of endangered species including dolphins and tigers being shone on to the building.

Colin Butfield, head of campaigns, WWF-UK, said: 'Our event at the Royal Albert Hall, alongside the hundreds of thousands of events across the world, shows global support for the need to tackle climate change and protect the natural world.

'The challenge for our future well-being could not be greater. WWF's Earth Hour is about creating a message so powerful that governments and businesses cannot fail to take notice.'

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia, when 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businesses turned their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change.

The following year, Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries participating.

Four of the world's five tallest buildings turned off their lights with the tallest, the 828-metre Burg Khalifa in Dubai, switching off about half a million lights.

Also darkening for the occasion were floodlights at natural wonders such as Niagara and Victoria Falls and Table Mountain in South Africa.