Frances Namoumou, from the Pacific Conference of Churches, reader of the Interfaith Statement to COP23. PICTURE: © Marcelo Schneider/WCC
“There is no time to lose” in addressing climate change and it is a “matter of justice” that wealthy nations should provide financial and other support to those income poor, vulnerable countries, such as Pacific island nations, which are already bearing the brunt of its effects, according to an interfaith statement to be presented by the World Council of Churches to COP23 in Bonn, Germany, on Thursday.
Read by Frances Namoumou, representing the WCC and Pacific Conference of Churches, the statement calls for action to ensure that global temperature increases don’t exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and for financial and other resources to be made available to small island states and other poor, vulnerable countries to help them respond to climate change effects and compensate them for loss or damage caused as a result.
It says that climate change is already “threatening our only home”. “Perhaps nowhere is this more striking than in Oceania,” it reads. “Already many islands are struggling with recurrent, powerful storms that take lives and destroy livelihoods and sources of sustenance. As sea levels rise, oceans acidify and corals wither, our sisters and brothers in the Pacific region are increasingly confronted with the prospect of displacement and forced migration as well as the erosion of territories, identities and cultures.”
The statement says that given people living in the Pacific “contribute least to greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change”, “[i]t is therefore a matter of justice that wealthy nations responsible for the bulk of global emissions provide financial and other forms of support to income-poor, vulnerable countries, enabling the latter to adapt and build resilience to a warming climate as well as compensating for loss and damage…It is then our moral and ethical responsibility to take collective and immediate actions to address climate change and to safeguard life on our planet. There is no time to lose.”
The statement also emphasises that “lifestyle corrections are not enough”. “We must continue to work for urgent changes in our growth-oriented systems of investment, production, distribution and consumption with a view to overcoming poverty and transitioning to a zero carbon economy by 2050. In a world where one in eight people remain hungry, we must hold together these two objectives.”
Another interfaith statement, described as an “invitation to sustainable lifestyles”, was delivered to COP23 by 50 faith leaders on bicycles last week. It called for people to commit to taking actions such as “dramatically reducing emissions from our home energy use, adopting a plant-based diet and reducing food waste, and minimising automobile and air travel” to help address the issue.
