As the world is gearing up to address one of the most pressing concerns of our time at the UN Summit at Copenhagen next month - the issue of Climate Change and Global Warming will be at the centre stage . The COP15 (15th Conference of Parties) under the UNFCCC is scheduled to be held during 7-18 December 2009 at Copenhagen in Denmark, which will see the Kyoto Protocol revisited to take stock of the impending catastrophe due to Climate Change.

CASA, as an important CSO, has always taken strong cognizance of the problem of Global Warming and Climate Change. This is a Cross Cutting issue for CASA and is a yardstick for us in all our programmes, Projects, partnerships and activities. To make our commitment to the cause of Climate Change, we are in the process of formulating a Climate Change Policy of the Organisation. As a run up to this we have been organising a series of workshops on Perspective and Capacity Building on Global Warming and Climate Change across the country for various stakeholders of CASA. As a finale to this process, CASA organised a NATIONAL CHURCH LEADERS CONSULTATION ON CLIMATE CHANGE, 4-6 NOVEMBER 2009, NAGPUR.

The consultation had a representation of various Church Leaders from over 30 member Churches, Regional Christian Councils and All India Christian Organisations. The Chairperson of CASA, Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma Metropolitan, The Director of CASA, Dr. Sushant Agrawal & General Secretary of NCCI, Bishop Dr. D.K Sahu were among the many dignitaries present at the Consultation who addressed the august gathering. Eminent Resource persons and Eco-Theologians guided the discussions and deliberations through their papers and PowerPoint presentations on various topics. Some of the key Resource Persons were Mr. Pradeep Saha from the Centre for Science and Environment, Dr. Ilangovan from Tamilnadu Coastal Environmental Authorities and Dr. George Zachariah from Gurukul Lutheran Theological College, Chennai. Mr. Dinesh Suna, Policy Officer, CASA along with Ms. Joycia Thorat, PO and Mr. Joseph Sahayam, AEO coordinated the workshops.

This consultation was to ensure that the Church s understanding on Climate Change is on the basis of Justice and Human Rights. CASA believes that Climate Change is more than an environmental issue, it is an issue of Justice! The participants issued a Statement at the end of the workshop which is known as the Rainbow Declaration.