The churches and church-based organisations of Africa have jointly urged the international community to focus on the effects of climate
change in Africa ahead of next week's UN Convention on Climate Change in Nairobi.
The churches and organisations, including Norwegian Church Aid Eastern Africa, are united through the
Caritas-AACC Ecumenical Platform with the intention of facilitating the participation of Christians at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 12th Conference of
Parties (COP12) that will take place in Nairobi, Kenya from 6th – 17th November 2006.
In two statements issued on 2nd November to Convention delegates and non-participating churches
respectively, the Ecumenical Platform states:
"Climate change is a reality. This has been confirmed by scientists, as well as communities that daily bear the effects of climate change.
The countries of tropical Africa are slowly but surely being starved of water. Rains are now shorter, unpredictable, and often more intense.
This has had dire consequences for communities
in tropical Africa whose survival depends on rain-fed subsistence farming and livestock keeping. At least 600 million people on the African continent alone survive by growing crops or rearing
livestock. They are fighting a losing battle against climate change."
"The tragic truth is that communities in tropical Africa are all suffering increasingly volatile weather conditions due
to a phenomenon that is not of their making. Climate change is largely caused by industrialised countries that have over-polluted the atmosphere during their process of industrialisation. Poor
communities are suffering the consequences of climate change, even though they have not polluted the skies with greenhouse gases."
The Ecumenical Platform urges delegates to agree that
rich countries must proportionately compensate poor countries for the damage they have sustained through climate change caused by rich countries' carbon emissions; that efforts are made to distribute
total global carbon emissions equally among rich and poor countries alike; and this process must begin with a dramatic reduction in industrialised nations' carbon emissions.
Churches are
strongly encouraged to join environmental action networks, speak out against carbon emissions, share information with congregations and pray for communities affected by climate change.
Caritas is an international confederation of Catholic agencies and the All Africa Council of Churches (AACC) is the umbrella organisations for Protestants in Africa.
Download the
Caritas-AACC statement to the delegates
here.
Download the Caritas-AACC statement to the churches
here.
For more information, contact:
Odd H. Evjen, Regional Representative for Norwegian Church Aid in
Eastern Africa, tel.: (+254) 733 609 936
