Two ACT Ethiopia delegates discuss the impact of COP26 in the new video  “It’s good to swim together…” ACT Ethiopia delegates on

COP26. (see below)

Dawit Beza of Norwegian Church Aid is the Coordinator of ACT Ethiopia. Bikila Abeya is the Programs Director at EECMY-DAASSC. Both participated in the second week of the annual global climate negotiations, held in Glasgow, Scotland, November 7 to 13, where Bikila was part of a panel on locally led adaptation organised by DanChurchAid. 

“It was a very good opportunity,” says Dawit, pointing to events on locally led adaptation, pavilions on appropriate technology and the opportunity to network.  “It was a good opportunity to learn from other churches in other parts of the world,” says Bikila. “If we go for the same goal, we have a chance to make change, I learned.”  

Advocacy 

Advocacy is an important part of ACT’s Climate Justice program. Building on his prior relationship with Ethiopia’s climate negotiators, Dawit discussed advocacy with them. “Our government has a very clear strategy on climate resilient green economies. But when it comes to practical applications … they are not environmentally friendly,” he says. Noting that foreign investment is very important for developing countries, he says “they should also look into the environmental friendliness of that investment.” Bikila and Dawit also participated in ACT’s COP26 climate actions and the Climate March, which “put pressure on the negotiators,” says Bikila.  

 “I got the chance to learn how to advocate at all levels – at local, regional and national levels,” says Bikila. Ethiopia has only recently allowed advocacy. “When we’re able to advocate, the government, who will be negotiators at … next year’s COP, get the opportunity [to hear] what the people, civil society, are thinking.”  

Faith communities have a special role to play. “Here in Ethiopia almost all people are part of a faith community, whether church or mosque,” says Bikila. “We can bring change and influence the government at all levels. The impact of faith communities is very big… and we need to make it stronger.” 

Gender Justice and Climate Justice 

Bikila and Dawit describe how a changing climate has “tripled” the daily work of women and girls in collecting firewood and water. “As the rain pattern changes, the moisture in the soil decreases,” says Bikila, and productivity decreases. “Women are the ones who are responsible to feed their family,” he says. Yet women and girls are also the last in the family to get an education, with few options for alternative livelihoods. “Climate change and gender justice are really inseparable,” says Bikila. 

Future COPs 

Both delegates would like to see more focus on locally led adaptation at future climate conferences. “We need to focus on local knowledge; the traditional knowledge the community has,” says Bikila. “It brings lasting impact.”  

Dawit says COPs should be more inclusive. “We have a saying: It’s good to swim together, rather than sink together,” says Dawit. “Unless the approach is global and inclusive … I don’t think the solutions will come soon. It’s good to be more inclusive so that we see … some action translated on the ground.” 

Global issue  

That climate change is now an issue “the whole world” is dealing with is “inspiring,” says Dawit. “The developed nations have started to see the impact,” says Bikila. “They have the capacity to absorb the shock. But here in developing countries we are suffering … and our people are losing almost all their livelihoods. But now it’s become the concern of all.” 

“There are initiatives where both the North and South are coming together with a common goal,” says Dawit. “That is very encouraging.” 

By Mattias Soderberg

One more year, and the climate crisis has become more severe. Scientists continue to raise the alarm, and more and more people and communities are suffering from the impact of global warming.  

Looking back at 2021, we can all list a number of sad and frightening climate-related disasters. It is clear that that we have a climate crisis, not only in poor and vulnerable countries, but around the world. Tornadoes in the USA; flooding in Germany; drought in Madagascar and Afghanistan; and cyclones in the Pacific have all created headlines. For those affected – who have lost their loved ones, their houses and belongings, and have been forced to move – climate change is real. It is not just numbers on a chart, or paragraphs in an agreement. It is reality, one which has turned their lives upside down, and could affect all of us the same way. 

While the list of climate disasters is long, the list of good news stories is short. However, we should hold on to these good news stories as they offer hope – hope that can be turned into action and hope that we can solve the climate crisis.  

To begin with, I hold on to the fact that climate scientists still think it’s possible to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees. That is good news, because the same scientists have made it clear that a higher temperature increase may push the climate towards a number of tipping points that may jeopardize our future.  

Secondly, the agreement from Glasgow’s COP26 climate summit includes a paragraph requesting all parties to revisit their national climate plans. These plans, also called NDCs (short for nationally determined contributions) tell us what parties want to do to tackle climate change. As the current level of ambition is too low, plans must not only be revisited, but also revised to increase their goals.  

The COP26 agreement, as with many UN agreements, includes rather soft wording. There are few binding decisions and many encouraging suggestions. These provide loopholes that parties to the agreement may decide to use. For example, the EU has already declared that they don’t have to scale up their emission reduction ambition. They consider their NDCs to be ambitious enough. Unfortunately, that is an argument that all parties to COP26 can use, and the impact of the COP26 agreement is therefore in doubt.  

Still, I choose to be optimistic in this final post of the year. I agree that it looks really worrying. There are few concrete signs of action to generate hope. But there are still useful options on the table, and I hope all parties will pick the right ones when they return to their offices after the Christmas and New Year’s break.  

The climate crisis is real, not only for those who endured climate-related disasters in 2021, but for all of us. The climate crisis can be handled if we act now. We need bold action to reduce emissions and ensure a green transition in our communities. We need rapid and comprehensive initiatives to help us to adapt to the effects of climate change. And we must ensure that there is adequate support to help people and communities address climate-induced loss and damage.  

I hope 2022 will become a turning point for the climate. Happy New Year.  

Mattias Soderberg is Chief Advisor for DanChurchAid and co-chair of ACT’s climate justice working group.

From a report by Joselito Sosmena 

In mid December, Super Typhoon Rai made landfall in central and southern Philippines, causing massive damage. Super typhoons like Rai have affected the Philippines with depressing frequency since Super Typhoon Haiyan landed in 2013.  Super typhoons are linked to rising ocean temperatures, making the Philippines one of the countries that is most directly affected by the climate crisis.  

 “I remember Super Typhoon Haiyan. There were endless lines for water, queues in banks for money wire transfers, overpriced gasoline, and food was scarce,” says Joselito “Lito” Sosmena, who worked on NCCP-ACT Alliance’s 2013 Typhoon Haiyan humanitarian response. “Eight years later, it has happened again but now more areas are experiencing the same fate.”  

Typhoon Rai, known locally as Odette, caused massive damage in southern and central Philippines including in Bohol, where Lito’s family lives. As of this writing there are 375 casualties, an estimated 3,800 houses have been destroyed by the typhoon, and more than two million people have been displaced.  Meeting basic needs with food, potable water, hygiene kits and temporary shelter is difficult. 

COVID-19 and the increasing threat of the omicron variant has complicated matters. Lito’s mother was diagnosed with COVID-19 the day before Typhoon Rai landed.  She went to hospital with difficulty breathing, leaving her husband at home with their three grandchildren.  

When the typhoon landed, the nearby river flooded, and the waters rose to the level of Lito’s parents’ roof.  “Our house was wiped out in a snap, along with all our belongings,” said Lito.  This included a small store, animals and a fishing boat, essential for the family’s livelihood. His mother’s illness was added to the family’s difficulties. “How can my mother be quarantined at home when there is no house left for her to go to?” he said.  Ultimately relatives provided temporary shelter for his mother’s quarantine, but the family still had challenges accessing medicine. 

Five days after Typhoon Rai’s landfall “our people still lack access to safe water, power and communication lines,” said Lito. “It seems like the lessons we learned from Typhoon Haiyan have been forgotten.”  

“I hope that in our united efforts and continuing call for accountability from the government, we will recover stronger,” he said. 

 
For more information contact Sylwyn Sheen Alba-Salvador 
Networking and Advocacy Officer, National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) 
Coordinator, ACT Philippines Forum 

Youth and climate justice was featured in two discussions at the recent ACT Assembly 2021. Hope was central to both. 

An  intergenerational panel on youth and climate justice took place early in the Assembly. A few days later, two Latin American ACT members, Marcelo Leites of Uruguay and Fernanda Zuniga of Chile, reviewed the key points of this discussion. Both Marcelo and Fernanda are themselves young people who have been involved for many years in organising other young people in their countries, Marcelo with the World Student Christian Movement and Fernanda with the Lutheran Church in Chile.  

The key points they noted were: the importance of Christian unity in climate action; developing youth’s capacity to lead and to engage in negotiations; the urgency of action given the climate crisis; and the hope offered by youth involvement to the Alliance and the world. Marcelo noted two additional points that had emerged in the intergenerational discussion: that “all change is possible if we have hope” and that “there is no climate justice without social and economic justice.”  

Fernanda focussed on the call to promote climate action based on shared Christian values. She added that education is not just a tool to empower young people to act on climate, but to empower them to become decision-makers in negotiations and policy. And their lived experience is important. Youth should “not only be telling others’ stories about loss and damage, motivation, gender,” said Fernanda, but also “sharing their own experiences.” 

“We need a new climate and new relationships between people, nature and men and women,” concluded Marcelo. “We know women and children are the most affected by climate change.” 

Fernanda and Marcelo’s dialogue, below, was recorded in Spanish with English subtitles.  

It’s been more than a month since COP26 ended, and the world continues to reflect on the results of the two weeks of negotiations hosted by the UNFCCC in Glasgow in November.  

Featuring observations by COP26 ecumenical participants, the COP26 Ecumenical Preliminary Analysis – End of Summit offers rich reflection and analysis on both the results of the summit and ecumenical collaboration at COP26.  

“Youth are now and will continue to be disproportionately affected by climate change in the coming decades and implore world leaders to stop selling off their future,” said Savanna Sullivan, the LWF Program Executive for Youth, and a COP26 observer. “We are deeply concerned about the Glasgow result. Despite some progress, we are still far from solving the climate crisis, and we will need a drastic increase in the ambition of all parties.” 

ACT Alliance, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the World Council of Churches (WCC) and their members followed the summit closely. “We feel that there is still a lot that must be done to achieve climate justice, particularly for communities in the Global South,” says the document, pointing out that the people who face the worst effects of climate change have done the least to contribute to it. 

A commitment to the Santiago Network on Loss and Damage is one step forward at COP26. “[It] will be crucial in strengthening the technical capacity of Global South governments to bear the shocks of climate change,” said Patriciah Roy Akullo of DanChurchAid Uganda. There are caveats. “[The network’s] technical capacity must be complemented by the provision of new and additional loss and damage finance,” said Julius Mbatia, ACT Alliance Climate Justice Manager. This will be needed to fund interventions that will help vulnerable communities affected by the climate crisis. 

“As people of faith, we are disappointed but not disheartened by the lack of concrete results from COP26,” say the document authors. “As partners in the ecumenical movement, we will continue to care for creation, work for climate justice, and stand with the most vulnerable. We call on churches worldwide to keep raising their voices for creation and for climate justice.”  

“If the goal to stay below 1.5 degrees is to be reached, all parts of global society should be included. The Glasgow Climate Pact mentions the importance of collaborations with civil society and many groups but not faith groups,” said Rev. Henrik Grape, coordinator of the WCC working group on Climate Change. People of faith need to be included in the global discussions to move forward. 

Preparing for COP27 

Preparations are underway for COP27, scheduled to be held in Egypt from 7 to 18 November 2022. It will be an important meeting. 

“World leaders must stop ignoring the climate crisis and act to bring forward significant emission reduction targets in 2022 to avoid the catastrophic effects of climate change,” said Elena Cedillo, LWF Program Executive for Climate Justice.   

Follow ACT Alliance’s Twitter account, ACT Now for Climate Justice, for ongoing analysis, news and actions that you can take to influence pre-COP27 preparation meetings.  Join us in working together for a just result at COP27.   

As the G7 Health Ministers stated, with the rise of Omicron, “[t]he global community is faced, at a first evaluation, with the threat of a new, highly transmissible variant of COVID-19, which requires urgent action.” (G7 Joint Statement on the Omicron variant) We, at ACT Alliance, appreciate the G7 Ministers’ recognition of the strategic relevance of ensuring access to vaccines while also providing operational assistance, taking forward donation commitments, and tackling vaccine misinformation, as well as supporting research and development. However, we worry that this rhetoric will not translate into action. We are particularly concerned that ‘donors’ often fail to deliver on their commitments and/or to give good advance notice of upcoming donations, coordinate with ‘receiving’ governments, and to share adequate doses that have sufficiently long ‘shelf lives’. 

Some of our members and faith partners (See, for instance, call for endorsements related to a faith-based statement calling on the WTO to urgently waive patents.) have already highlighted that failure to properly rollout vaccines globally is costing lives and is further delaying the end of the pandemic. For instance, jointly, ACT EU members have been working on targeted and concrete action focusing on the inaction of Member States (See more at Vaccines for all: time for the EU to rise to the challenge (brusselstimes.com).) Inaction is not only unwise, as it stalls our ability to revert back to a new normal and to recover from the social and economic shocks of this crisis, it is also a moral failure. Whereas in Global North countries like Portugal vaccine coverage is remarkable, only 6% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose- a far cry from the whopping 54.5% coverage globally. This is wildly unjust and unfair. 

What is needed to tackle the current vaccine apartheid? In the ACT Alliance vaccine equity brief,  we warned back in July 2021 that we would not see the end of the pandemic until everyone, everywhere, was safe and vaccinated. To make sure calls to tackle Omicron translate into concrete outcomes, we urge countries housing vaccine production and those with large vaccine stocks to: 

• Immediately share doses, guaranteeing affordable prices, fair allocation and prioritisation while taking into consideration the price in relation to GDP.  
• Resolve liability issues and avoid distributing vaccines too close to expiry or those coming in slow waves between doses. 
• Based on the available scientific evidence, commit to at least 5% of overall supply to equitable vaccine distribution and prioritise vaccine equity over booster shots. 
• Increase production and transfer capacity, technology and production, temporarily waiving patents and IP rights to enable manufacturing in the Global South as well as sharing of technology and know-how through the C-TAP mechanisms. 
• Be responsive to where there is untapped potential and a strong call from faith leaders in relation to the moral responsibility to value human life and dignity above all else. 
• Ensure COVAX is inclusive and responsive to civil society’s demands as well as supporting the initiative for a treaty on global pandemic preparedness that protects the health and livelihoods of all. 
• Prioritize high risk groups including the people living with HIV/AIDS, people with palliative care conditions, the key and most vulnerable populations. 
• Create a more robust form of global pandemic preparedness that protects the health and livelihoods of all, that strengthens public health systems and recognises the fundamental role played by civil society actors, in particular faith actors, in COVID-19 mechanisms. 
• Remove ineffective travel bans from countries who have shared the information about new variants, which only impose economic hardships on these nations without effectively slowing the spread of the variants. 
• Reject the immoral prioritisation by manufacturers of new vaccine supplies to Global North countries with high rates of vaccination and instead prioritise the fulfillment of commitments to the COVAX Facility. 

In summary, we call for action and an end to the empty political rhetoric. We must protect our common home and our brothers and sisters with the same passion and energy as we protect ourselves. As ACT Alliance, we are a Christian network and we share with our constituencies and those of many other faith-based networks the basic thirst for global justice. We think the issues formulated above are part of the long road to global justice. 
 
We also urge all Global North countries to call out blockages and maneuvering as well as to put an end to fallacies that argue that vaccine hesitancy is an adequate reason to avoid the sharing of doses. Evidence has clearly shown that there is uptake when vaccines are available and distributed in a predictable way. We therefore demand all countries to end vaccine inequity. 

Rudelmar Bueno de Faria  
General Secretary, ACT Alliance  

 ——

ACT Alliance is the largest coalition of Protestant and Orthodox churches and church-related organisations engaged in humanitarian, development and advocacy work in the world, consisting of more than 140 members working together in over 120 countries to create positive and sustainable change in the lives of poor and marginalised people regardless of their religion, politics, gender, sexual orientation, race or nationality in keeping with the highest international codes and standards. 

At its closing plenary on December 3, the ACT Electronic General Assembly elected its new governing board, the officers of the board, and the membership and nominations committee (MNC).  

Officers, members of the board, and of the MNC must demonstrate active engagement in the life of the Alliance prior to being nominated for the positions. The elected individuals will serve for a period of three years, until the next Assembly in 2024. 

ACT’s governing board is made up of 22 members representing the various regions, as well as two seats for youth.  Congratulations to the newly elected board, and a warm thank you to all who put their names forward for these roles. Here is the new board:

The officers of the board are the Moderator, Vice-moderator, and Treasurer.  Erik Lysén, from Act Church of Sweden, was elected as the new moderator.

Lysén serves as the Director of International Affairs with Act Church of Sweden, and has been involved in ecumenical justice work for over 30 years, beginning his work in 1991 in South Africa, and said, “the lasting memory of that time is one of being together in a global struggle to combat racism, ending apartheid. It holds similarities with our mission today. We’re in the alliance because we have a common cause, a global faith-based struggle for climate justice and social justice.” 

Lysén went on to say, “I am proud to moderate an alliance that embodies commitments to sustainable development, multilateral cooperation, respect for democracy and human rights, peace, dignity, and equality – a global coalition of actors that work together to contribute to a just, inclusive, and peaceful world. A church-based alliance with its roots in faith-based communities at the local level. An alliance that puts Christian faith and hope into action.”

Lysén picked up on the importance of youth to the Assembly and to the life of the alliance. “This general assembly has shown that we can be proud of our youth COP and their expertise, not only on climate change, but also on all the conversations we’ve had during this week… We’re on the way to building a strong youth movement, but will only do it through your experiences, advice, and competence.”

“The value of ACT Alliance members working together is so much more than members acting alone”, he concluded.  “So, let us be brave and see the light. Let us put faith and hope into action. Let us be the change ourselves!” The full text of his speech can be found here.

Erik Lysén will work with Minnie Anne Mata-Calub, from the National Council of Churches in the Philippines as Vice-moderator, and Simangaliso Hove, Lutheran Development Service in Zimbabwe, will serve a second term as treasurer.

The Membership and Nominations Committee will be composed of:

One seat will remain vacant for the moment until a process for filling it is agreed to.

Members of ACT Alliance Canada recently hosted a virtual consultation exploring both the results of COP26 and the impacts of the climate crisis as they affect Eastern and Southern Africa. The consultations were a collaboration between agencies and ACT members in Canada and with ACT members and forums in the region. 

Structured as moderated discussions with experts followed by small group participant discussions, the intent was to look for new pathways to strengthen Canadian agencies’ collaborative work in the region, identify challenges and opportunities and share experiences.  As noted by one of the hosts, Guy Smagghe (Presbyterian World Service and Development), the consultation would “stay clear of the blah, blah, blah and identify what we have agency over.” 

Panellists and moderators included ACT Alliance members from Eastern and Southern Africa, as well as members of Canadian Foodgrains Bank, Lutheran World Service and the All Africa Conference of Churches. The hosts, Canadian Lutheran World Relief, Presbyterian World Service and Development, the United Church of Canada, the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund, World Renew and the World Alliance of Christian Communicators, are members of ACT Canada. 

Day One: Naming the challenges 

First day panellists were moderated by Jim Cornelius of Canadian Foodgrains Bank, and included Julius Mbatia (ACT Alliance Global Climate Justice Programme Manager), who began with the inequities facing Africans. “Africa has contributed 3.8% of the world’s greenhouse gasses,” he said. Yet today, 600 million Africans have no access to power. “That’s 48% of the continent, and this restrains economies.”  At COP26, financing for loss and damage from climate change was “pushed back several years,” said Mbatia. “We need to advance the conversation to give communities hope,” and support “locally-led initiatives, technical accompaniment and transformation at the local level, where it’s needed.” 

Lillian W. Kantai (LWF World Service Kenya) pointed to humanitarian issues in the region: “There are millions of refugees,” she noted, creating a “burden for host countries that are already burdened economically.” Governance issues affect climate finance. “How much of the money reaches locally-led initiatives? From a human rights perspective, we must hold our governments accountable and hold locally led initiatives to account as well,” she said. Kantai also spoke eloquently of women’s unfair burden under the climate crisis.  

“More impacts from climate change are coming,” said Paul Hagerman (Canadian Foodgrains Bank). Money needs to reach those most affected, and African people need to be heard on these issues. A further issue is that “donors in the north see climate finance as optional, as aid or charity,” said Hagerman. “Developing countries see it as a justice issue.” He added that more analysis of the impacts of climate change will allow those involved to plan improved adaptation projects. 

Day Two: Best practices, lessons learned, new opportunities 

Day two of the consultation was moderated by Elizabeth Kisiigha Zimba (ACT Alliance Regional Representative, Africa). Panellists began by describing the effects of the changing climate in their countries. “Cyclone Idai … killed people and displaced others from their homes. It impacted the economy and lives,” said Collins Shava (All Africa Conference of Churches). Melton Luhanga (ACT Malawi Forum and Churches Action for Relief and Development) added that changing rains and the increasing number of floods in Malawi mean that “food insecurity is now widespread in most areas.”  

When asked to discuss opportunities for action and collaboration, Patriciah Roy Akullo (ACT Uganda Forum and ACT’s Climate Justice group) advocated putting youth “at the forefront” and collaborating with the private sector for solutions in research and innovation. The need for private sector engagement was echoed by some other panellists. 

Philip Mato Galgallo (ACT Burundi Forum and Christian Aid Burundi) noted the “paradox” that when communities lose livelihoods suited to a past climate, they “may be pushed into industrial work that further destroys the environment.” As well, African countries “don’t lack policies, but do lack enforcement,” he said. “We can collaborate” to change this. 

Collins Shava added that there is still room to push for commitments at future COPs, and to “push for our countries to take responsibility.” Building capacity in faith leaders remains important as “religion and faith are more influential than politics in my country” of Zimbabwe. He also advocated for promoting women in decision-making.  

Melton Luhanga pointed to the consultation itself as an important example of collaboration. “What we are doing here is one of the greater opportunities. This is capacity-building,” he said. “Between and amongst us, there are appropriate technologies” that with adequate financing and promotion can solve the problems created by a changing climate. 

Next steps 

In summarizing the two days of discussions, PWS&D’s Guy Smagghe began by noting that “our Earth is a temple that has become a marketplace. We need to bring it to another level.” He pointed to some key threads in the consultation, such as building consortia and encouraging effective youth involvement, and to issues that need more exploration, such as Indigenous knowledge and appropriate technologies. He noted that some of these issues can be brought to ACT Alliance.  

“We are challenged,” Smagghe said, “to strengthen the livelihoods of people now facing climate change impacts that destroy their livelihoods.” Finally, he said “We need to digest the input of all who contributed during the last few days … This is just opening the door to trying to make a greater difference together.”