UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE (UNFCCC) AND THE ROLE OF CHURCH AND CHURCH AGENCIES

Introduction:

Bible begins with the creation story.  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth   . God saw everything   that he had made was very good and entrusted Adam and Eve to take care of the earth ”(Gen:1:1,28, 31) .   Caring   for the Creation   comes first in the Bible and thus calls for a   proactive involvement of   the   Church. The Creation is groaning today as it‘s  been exploited to satisfy human   greed    leading to degradation of environment and effecting climate change .

The Seventeenth   Conference of Parties (COP-17) held at Durban South Africa from 29^th, November to the 10^th of December, 2011 under the UNFCCC   , an international environmental treaty is an effort to stabilize climate change  . Since the earth summit of UN in Rio_ de_ Janeiro in 1992, marked the birth of international Climate Policy, many efforts have been made with not much substantial and visible  outcome.

As we are aware, the earth   is warming. The Earth’s  mean  temperature  14 degree  C which has been increased to 15 degree C over the years and is steadily increasing.  Further delay to   act upon the global warming would increase it further  2 degree C which would be catastrophic and jeopardize  a sustainable and justice oriented development  world  wide. It would be a potentially uncontrollable risk for hundreds of millions of people living in unprotected danger zones of the earth.

The frequency and severity of natural disasters like floods, droughts, cyclones, tropical storms, etc has increased in recent years   and explains climate change   . 97% of the victims of the disasters are people living in developing countries. The poor and the disadvantaged are the hardest hit.

According to the Bread for the World from a development perspective,   “the restriction of global warming and overcoming hunger and poverty are two sides of the same coin, climate policy is the test case for justice in the 21^st century”. The Environment Centre of University of Colorado says   “with the rising temperatures, human lives particularly in low income and indigenous communities are affected by compromised health, financial burdens and social and cultural disruptions”.

The People’s Climate Projects says “these communities are the first to experience the negative impacts of climate change such as heat related illness and death, respiratory illness, infectious diseases, loss of livelihood,   unaffordable rises in energy costs, and extreme natural disasters etc.”   “Not only do they bear disproportionate burdens from climate change itself, but also from ill designed policies to prevent climate change and from the side effects of the energy systems that cause it as well.  Moreover those who are most affected are least responsible for the Green House Gas emissions that cause the problem” says the Environment Centre.

CASA’s Participation in the COP-17

My participation in the  UNFCCC  Durban Conference as an  observer accredited under ACT Alliance the  umbrella body of 132 faith based social agencies  across globe including Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action was to lobby and advocate for climate justice and sponsored by Bread for the World, Germany  .

(Ms. Joycia Thorat   at the exhibition stall of BfdW at COP17, Durban)

I began my involvement by    participating   in the   interfaith prayer organized  by Diakonia Centre of South Africa for the success of the conference  in which Mahatma Gandhi ‘s grand daughter Ms. Ela Gandhi ,Mr. John Nduna , ACT Alliance Director, and other dignitaries participated.  Faith leaders   of   Jews, Muslims, Brahma Kumaris, Catholics, Protestants , Buddists and Hindus led the prayer  .  This was followed by the ecumenical fellowship in which all the Church leaders across the globe met and strategized   for the 2^nd week of the climate  conference.

As an observer I   participated in the opening plenary of the second week in which the  COP-17 President Ms. Maite Nkoana  Mashabane , the South Africa  Minister  of International Relations and Cooperation  presented   the amalgamation report. This gave an overview of the first week’s progress on the negotiations.

The Dinner meeting with the Members of Parliament of Germany was a special event   wherein   the faith based agencies  advocated and lobbied with the  Member of Parliaments ,for Europe to lead the change with regard to (1) climate  green fund (2) ensuring the second term of the  Kyoto Protocol the only legally binding treaty to be continued (3) and varying commitments , but consistent standards – a binding agreement for all countries  from 2015. It’s noteworthy that Germany   lead the commitment to green fund by pledging 40 million Euros.

Bread for the World had a stall to disseminate information on climate change and the faith communities demand/expectation from this conference, in  which I assisted.

The side event by India in which India was pressurizing for developed countries be brought to book for their historical responsibility for global warming and they not  doing enough was highlighted(very valid indeed). However the Indian rich   hiding its carbon foot print behind the  Indian poor was conveniently forgotten in the dais shared by Centre  for Science  and Environment  (CSE) Director Sunita Narain and Indian Minister for Environment Hon’ble  Ms. Jayanti Natarajan.  In this event CSE was taking   a stand   that India has right to growth and development ( which all agree but what kind of development ?  displacing  people from their livelihood – e.g.,  coal mining and nuclear power plants and hydro electric dams, etc ?).     India strongly put forth its view through   out the conference that the developed countries whose emissions should be brought into account and equity is a key concern if any negotiation to be achieved.  However one need to note that   poor across the globe would be hard hit as even a one percent   increase in the sea level would drown many countries. Also in India only the rich benefit from this kind of development where coal, nuclear power etc.  is used displacing people and destroying  livelihood.

In this context   Durban Conference was of great importance as all countries need to work   together on   a road map for  a    comprehensive and legally binding climate architecture.

I also   participated  in  the reception  hosted by Bread for the World for its delegates as well  by ACT Alliance for Ecumenical Fraternity.

Participation in UNFCCC has once again strengthened my conviction that we the church need to work strongly and engage ourselves actively on   climate justice issues. Church   and related agencies are called upon to act along with others on this prime justice issue, as “Earth is the Lords and all in it”. (Psalms 24:1)

-     Submitted by Ms. Joycia Thorat, Project Officer, CASA, West Zone, who represented CASA at the COP17.(Inputs by Mr. Dinesh Suna, Policy Officer and Webmaster, CASA)

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