NEW YORK, 17 July 2019 – Activists from across the world today declared the Sustainable Development Goals – agreed by the international community in 2015 – under threat, due to inaction on climate change, rising inequality and increasing repression of peaceful civic activism continue to rise.

Meeting alongside the High-Level Political Forum at the United Nations in New York, a broad alliance of civil society organisations came together to demand greater ambition from governments as they plan for key UN Summits in September.

Dozens of organisations have issued a new declaration, “Stand Together Now for a Just, Peaceful and Sustainable World” stating, “We are standing alongside many others around the world in calling out a state of emergency. Humanity cannot afford to wait, people are demanding transformative change, and we are not willing to accept the current lack of action and ambition from many governments.”

The joint call to action comes from a vast range of organisations, including those working on fighting inequality, humanitarian assistance, human rights and climate change, such as Action for Sustainable Development, ACT Alliance, ActionAid, Amnesty International, CAN, CIVICUS, CPDE, GCAP, Greenpeace, Oxfam and Restless Development.

Inequality is rising, with the 26 richest billionaires now owning as many assets as the 3.8 billion people who make up the poorest half of the planet’s population. The climate emergency is worsening, with the United Nations saying we could have just 11 years left to limit a climate change catastrophe. A global crackdown on human rights means that only 43 UN member states are currently meeting their commitments to uphold the fundamental civic freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly.

At the same time, the majority of countries that have signed up to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), are not making the progress needed to avert a global break down.

“The drive to reach the SDGs is careening off course,” said Emmanuel Ametepey, from Youth Advocates Ghana. “Just four years ago all UN member states signed-up to a radical new agenda by 2030,” he said.  “Ten years might sound like enough time, but we are already falling badly behind. 

“Young people are ready to take the lead.”

“More people across the world are suffering as a result of the increases in extreme weather events, rising inequality and crackdowns by the government on human rights., Young people are bearing the brunt of it all,” said Catherine Njuguna, ACT Alliance youth ambassador.

Speaking outside the UN, Farah Kabir, Director of ActionAid Bangladesh, said: “People are increasingly frustrated at the slow pace of change. Since 2015 we have seen many countries presenting their progress reports at the UN, but we know change is not being felt on the ground. Inequality is growing, and many organisations and people are being oppressed across the globe.”

“We are announcing a state of emergency for people as well as the planet,” she added.

Global Co-Chair of Global Call to Action against Poverty, Beckie Malay said: “Many national coalitions of civil society actively engage with the UN’s High-Level Political Forum, they provide real evidence and clear recommendations, but in many cases, they don’t see these proposals reflected in government action plans.

“Unfortunately since 2015, it seems that there is regression on the key areas of inequality, rights and climate. We cannot stand by and let this happen; that is why we are standing together in countries around the world over the coming months to demand real action.”

Coordinator of Action for Sustainable Development, Oli Henman said: “We have been working together over recent years to ensure that national organisations can be heard by the UN during the Voluntary National Reviews. However, we see real challenges in many countries, including reducing engagement opportunities, limited consultation and in a number of cases increasing attacks against civil society organisations.”

Over the coming month, organisations will be stepping up their joint actions and will stand together in a joint Global Week of Action from 20-27 September, with key mobilisations planned in over 30 countries.

Read the joint declaration in full statement and sign up to show your support here.

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Arnold Ambundo, Global Climate Justice Coordinator, ACT Alliance, Arnold.Ambundo@actalliance.org

Joanna Patouris, Climate Communications Officer, ACT Alliance, joanna.patouris@actalliance.org

The UN Human Rights Council is currently in session in Geneva. More than 40 NGO and networks signed a joint statement, delivered on Monday by the International Catholic Migration Commission, to express their worry on the widespread and growing violations of the human rights of migrants and an environment where those who seeks to protect them are increasingly criminalised. 

ACT Alliance signed the statement as a strong signal of its support for the Global Compact of Migration and a call to States to use it as cooperative framework for the implementation of existing legal commitments.

“The Global Compact is here to stay and it is not up for debate.” said Christian Wolff, Programme Manager, Migration and Displacement, “States must uphold the human rights of the migrants by supporting civil society, creating an environment that enables their work and by taking the lead on implementation.”

Find here the FINAL NGO statement 

Bonn UN climate talks (SB50) are coming to a close, and some key governments have dismissed the opportunity to commit to action and support that is needed to avert loss and damage to protect the most climate vulnerable communities. 

Government delegations from around the world have spent the past two weeks negotiating the remaining technical features of the Paris Agreement. During this session, it has become clear that the good-will and trust built with the creation of the Paris Agreement is waning, with countries still not able to agree on a few of the key issues that are essential for ensuring climate justice.

“The discussions at SB50 completely undermine the severity that climate change is inflicting on vulnerable communities around the world,” says Mattias Söderberg, head of ACT’s delegation to SB50.

As governments prepare to review the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage (WIM) at the climate summit in Santiago de Chile in December (COP25), one thing must remain vivid – climate-induced loss and damage is real and is already happening. 

“We understand the connection of the negotiations around loss and damage to the realities experienced by people on the ground well enough to know that the protection gap for the most vulnerable is enormous and life-threatening,” says Leia Achampong, Policy Advisor of ACT Alliance.

“SB50 needed to deliver on a robust set of terms of reference for the Review of the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage to enable the WIM to operationalise a finance mechanism that could support to those who are living on the frontlines of catastrophic climate impacts. SB50 did not deliver on this,” continues Achampong.

Cyclones Idai and Kenneth; the prolonged droughts in Eastern Africa and the Horn of Africa; the heatwave in India; the perennial floods in South East Asia; the dramatic loss of the world’s cryosphere; and a myriad of scientific reports persistently confirm that climate-induced loss and damage is a real and present threat to vulnerable communities all around the world.

While parties have difficulties agreeing on how to move forward on the issue of providing support for loss and damage Söderberg reiterates, “the issue of loss and damage is essentially an issue of life or death. It is critical that donor countries urgently mobilise to allocate the resources needed to respond to this issue.”

As humanitarian aid is not nearly enough to tackle loss and damage, financial support to address loss and damage must come in addition to any existing commitments for development and humanitarian aid.

The science from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change confirms the need for action, yet science was another critical topic that parties had difficulties to agree on in Bonn. “It is sad that some countries, for example, Saudi Arabia continue to try to undermine climate science by questioning its role in the climate talks,” concludes Söderberg.

For more information contact:

Mattias Söderberg, ACT Alliance Head of Delegation to SB50, msd@dca.dk, +45 29700609

Leia Achampong, ACT Alliance Policy Advisor, leia.achampong@actalliance.eu, +32-2 234 5660

Last night, I landed in Beira, in Mozambique.  I am here in solidarity with the people of this city and region who were devastated by Cyclone Idai in March of this year.  Idai was one of two cyclones to wreak havoc on Mozambique in March—storms that were exacerbated by climate change.

When I turned on the news in my room, the headline was about the “climate apartheid,” where the rich will buy their way out of the worst effects of climate change, and the poor will face the brunt of the impact.

I opened the ACT website and read a blog by my friend Håkon Grindheim, written from the Bonn climate talks, reminding us why the technical negotiations are so important.  “We are here because 45 million people are currently affected by severe drought in Eastern and Southern Africa and 40 million are affected by floods in Southeast Asia. We are here because of the aftermath of the wildfires in California and that of Cyclone Idai and Kenneth which ravaged parts of Southern Africa. We are here because of the heatwaves affecting India, and disappearing ice in the Arctic which is melting beneath our feet,” he wrote.

Last week, I posted a story from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on my Facebook feed highlighting Canadians’ concern about climate change, but their unwillingness to pay a tax of $9/month to combat climate change.

All of this is swirling around in my head as I prepare to visit neighbourhoods here in Beira and communities in the nearby districts of Buzi and Nhamatanda in Sofala province, and to visit Zimbabwe next week to visit sites also affected by Idai. 

I am thinking about the work that we do as ACT, in communities, working alongside those who are facing the brunt of climate change.  Work on loss and damage, adaptation, and mitigation (all technical terms used in the climate negotiations) is happening within ACT members and the communities they serve, as well as in our advocacy which is tirelessly calling for the needs of the most vulnerable to be met, and for those who have done the most to cause climate change to contribute proportionally to the global response.

My own task is to be something of a bridge between the work I am documenting here in southern Africa and the work ongoing in Bonn, and that will be continued at COP25 in Chile this fall and through the time in between.

My goal at the end of it is that we all, as the human species, as children of God, work together to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C and that through that work we always remember the needs of the most vulnerable first.

Please join me in working towards that goal!

Blog by Simon Chambers, Director of Communications for ACT Alliance

ACT Alliance issued a statement expressing concern on the current situation in Brazil, where allegations of collusions were made between the chief prosecutor of the anti-corruption operation so-called “Car Wash” and the judge responsible for the case, the current Minister of Justice.

In this political firestorm the media (ed: The Intercept and Folha de São Paulo) accused the blatant disrespect for the rule of law in the country fueling an already tense a violent climate. In the statement ACT Alliance member organisations denounce a pushback against democracy which has already claimed hundreds of lives: Extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions are increasingly targeting human rights defenders, social and political leaders, indigenous peoples, afro-descendants, women and the LGBTQI+ community.

Already in March, ACT Alliance member organisations raised concerns about the volatile situation of the region and especially that of Brazil, during a conference that gathered together UN and government representatives, media and civil society.

A representative from ACT Alliance member organization said:“The partnership between the Folha de São Paulo and The Intercept is significant. First and foremost, for being credible sources but also for all criminalization that journalists have been subjected to. The accused did not deny the authenticity of the talks but started to question the integrity of the journalists. One week later, the adulteration hypothesis is far from depicting reality as the dubious negotiations between the judge and prosecutor have been confirmed by facts”

In the statement issued today, ACT Alliance welcomes the disclosure by the media of the systematic deceit conducted by public servants in Brazil. The public has the right to know, and civil society has the duty to denounce injustice, holding governments accountable to protect the rule of law and democracy.

ACT Alliance General Secretary, Rudelmar Bueno de Faria said: “The serious allegations and evidence of collusion around the anti-corruption operation “Car Wash” is truly disturbing. Public trust in the judicial system relies on its impartiality: its capacity to uphold the rule of law free from political pressure or bias. When democracy and human rights are under attack, the judicial system is often the last resort for the poor and marginalized to receive justice.  Without that the country is at risk”

Read the full statement here  

Picture: Wikimedia commons

We must remember why we are here

 Hearing the crowds in the corridors of the UN building in Bonn talk in technical terms, using words like ‘grant equivalent’, ‘IPCC’, ‘response measures’ and ‘market mechanisms’, it can be easy to get lost in the technical talk and forget to discuss the reason behind what brings us all here.

We are in Bonn because there is a growing population of climate-vulnerable people around the world fighting for their survival.

We are here because 45 million people are currently affected by severe drought in Eastern and Southern Africa and 40 million are affected by floods in Southeast Asia. We are here because of the aftermath of the wildfires in California and that of Cyclone Idai and Kenneth which ravaged parts of Southern Africa. We are here because of the heatwaves affecting India, and disappearing ice in the Arctic which is melting beneath our feet.

The solutions to these deadly effects are often technical, thus, talking about the technical terms is important. Loss and damage (which refers to the impacts of climate change, which cannot be adapted to) is a key term which will be discussed during the second week of the climate talks. This term is a sensitive topic for some parties. It is unfair that while the world’s wealthiest countries which have primarily contributed to climate change, it is the poorest that are hardest hit by increased droughts, floods and storms. So the question at play here is who has the responsibility to pay for the losses and damages that developing countries are suffering?  A looming question on this trajectory is who will carry the financial burden should the Maldives, for example, have to relocate all their inhabitants before their islands sink?

Are the polluters really paying? This will be a critical question during the second week in Bonn. We urge all countries to engage in constructive discussions on this matter and to find solutions that will save lives.

As it often goes, solutions require money and this is where parties have difficulties reaching an agreement. It is important that parties agree on a financial flow which does not compete with the money that is channelled to other humanitarian work. Not all humanitarian disasters are directly linked to climate change, and so it is vital that developed countries continue to provide support for them.

Instead, the money should be new and additional, in that it should not be taken from existing humanitarian and development flows. This is especially important when it comes to slow onset disasters, which do not receive much attention. For example, an arid region that is slowly getting drier or an island that is slowly sinking as the sea level rises, both lead to potentially deadly impacts, yet do not receive adequate support.

To answer questions similar to those posed in this piece is one reason why country representatives are in Bonn. It is crucial that parties remember the reasons behind why they are in Bonn and that they ACT on it. The world needs to agree on a way forward for loss and damage finance. People depend on it.

Blog written by Håkon Grindheim, Climate advisor at Norwegian Church Aid.

Within the context of the new chair in Religion and Sustainable development, launched in January 2019 in collaboration with ACT Alliance and ICCO and led by Prof Azza Karam, Vrije Universiteit organized a Roundtable on Gender and Development to discuss how religious actors can contribute to the achievement of SDG 5 (gender equality) and agenda 2030.

Prof. Karam, the chairperson of the UN interagency taskforce for cooperation with faith-based organisations,  is widely known for her expertise in religion and development.

Religion plays a major role in all developmental issues, including around gender equality, education, peacebuilding, poverty and climate change. As 80% of the world’s population identifies with a religious belief, it is critical to understand its role in shaping international politics and policies.

The road to gender justice remains a long one and walking the talk is a challenge for many religious institutions. Religious actors are among the strongest social and cultural gatekeepers in many parts of the world, and often, mainstream religious discourse still upholds patriarchal messages, making religious institutions “the strongest bastions of patriarchy in modern times”.

As co-organiser of the new chair of Religion and Sustainable Development, ACT Alliance’s General Secretary, Rudelmar Bueno de Faria alongside Corrie Van der Ven, ACT’s Program Manager for Religion and Development participated in the proceedings.

“Faith actors, specifically those dealing with the interpretation of sacred texts, have the task to identify what kind of religious understanding is giving ground to traditional and unequal gender roles,“ said Bueno de Faria.

“If gender roles are defined to limit and restrict full humanity for women and non-conforming identities to the normative patriarchal norms and values – then, this system is not fair, not based on justice. Churches and faith-based organizations that are grounding their practices in the Bible and a theology that is based on love and dignity, cannot but be prophetical and critical to this kind of system,” continued Bueno de Faria

The active engagement of ACT Alliance with the new chair of Religion and Development is part of ACT’s wider strategy of implementing the Created Equal Campaign, a groundbreaking gender justice campaign which aims to change minds and hearts on issues of gender equality amongst religious actors operating in humanitarian, developmental and environmental contexts.

The day before, the new chair of Religion and Sustainable Development, Professor Karam also delivered an inaugural lecture:

“It is not whether religions matter to development or not – for they do. Nor is it a question of how religions matter. For clearly, religious actors matter in multiple ways – so much so that there is even a religious inspired technocracy at play. Rather, I maintain that the questions should be: which religious actors are prepared to uphold all human rights at all times? And which government and/or intergovernmental entity is prepared to work with those actors to secure the indivisibility, interrelatedness, as well as the inherent and inviolable character of human rights for all human beings with no exceptions – thereby strengthening civic spaces which can uphold and defend democratic values, in an age of unreason?”

The roundtable is part of a series of events that VU Universiteit is developing to encourage dialogue between religious and secular organizations on some of the most pressing challenges of our time and to explore how faith-based beliefs and practices can contribute to achieving the ambitious agenda that governments need to implement by 2030.

Read the inaugural lecture of Prof Karam

We are witnessing the highest levels of displacement on record. UNHCR’s new Global Trends report, released yesterday, confirmed the worrying trend of an increase in global displacement, now affecting 70.8 million people. Once again, roughly two thirds of those affected (41.3 million) are internally displaced, further complicating their protection situation. Every day, another 37,000 people are forced to flee their homes. On this World Refugee Day, ACT Alliance together with other FBOs issued a statement calling for a greater global solidarity with displaced people worldwide.

Despite an increase in displacement, available protection continues to decline – especially in the Global North, which is statistically least affected. Almost four out of five refugees in 2018 were living in neighbouring countries.  According to the report, asylum applications have decreased significantly in many industrialised countries, including the US, Germany, and Italy, the latter seeing a dramatic decline of about 60%. Among those who did manage to apply for asylum, fewer were being granted a protection status. From 60% globally in 2016, the percentage of people receiving protection went down to 44% in 2018. Australia and Sweden are recognising barely a quarter of asylum applications. In addition, resettlement numbers are also going down, which puts enormous pressure on those developing countries that are hosting the largest portion of displaced people.

“In this situation, faith communities and civil society organizations are often forced to go beyond their role of just complementing the services of states in refugee protection due to the mounting obstacles faced by people on the move when trying to reach safe havens in developed countries,” said Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, General Secretary of ACT Alliance.  “The deplorable humanitarian situation in the Mediterranean, where European member states are actively refusing search and rescue efforts by civil society, and in Central America, where the US is wielding political influence to categorically prevent the arrival of people in need on American soil, are emblematic of this trend,“ de Faria said.

Therefore, global solidarity and responsibility sharing need to be promoted among all actors, while recognising the legal and moral responsibility of states as duty bearers, especially those who have the means to receive and integrate refugees.  “Additional and very important services should be provided by local communities, including faith actors, to ensure the successful social inclusion of newcomers. ACT Alliance and its members will continue to support these efforts,” concluded de Faria.

See the statement here

In the last few years, we have experienced an increase in extreme climatic events across the globe. Increased droughts, severe storms and unprecedented flooding, from the Americas through to the Pacific have brought loss and damage (climate impacts that cannot be adapted to) to the forefront of developed and developing country agendas.

Climate change is severely impacting the livelihoods of local communities. Biodiversity loss and increased economic instability within and amongst regions has forced citizens to migrate from rural to urban areas, and this, in turn, is placing pressure on available urban resources.

Countries need to take action to temper these successive impacts. This is particularly the case as climate impacts are not localised. For example, a flood in Sub-Saharan Africa that wipes out crops and washes away layers of topsoil could impact the global food trade and food flows. This could result in price spikes for staple foods such as grain, milk, rice, etc., which could lead to food insecurity.

Similarly, a drought in Western Asia could have significant repercussions for the populations there. Severe droughts could prevent new grains from flourishing which could reverse the gains made in combatting malnutrition.

Despite the understanding of such threats, climate finance for loss and damage remains undervalued and under-discussed.

During this UNFCCC inter-sessional (SB50), countries will discuss the new terms of reference for the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage. Such a discussion must be broader than a reflection on the current state of play and must look at what must happen for the needs of those impacted by loss and damage to be adequately addressed. This discussion must explore how to operationalise the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage, and parties must agree on options for creating a specific finance stream for loss and damage as existing climate finance options tend to be geared towards mitigation.

Countries must use SB50 as an opportunity to acknowledge loss and damage finance as a necessary and separate category of climate finance. Doing so will create the foundation for a new stream of finance that is necessary to address the effects of climate change and to enable forecast based finance (finance that is issued to developing countries before a climatic event occurs, based on forewarning) and support for slow on-set disasters.

Climate finance for loss and damage should be new and additional to the existing commitments for development and humanitarian aid. It should prioritise the needs of vulnerable members of society and those in most need of support.

Possible sources of finance for loss and damage that could be explored include a tax on aviation or on shipping- two industries whose existing ‘measures’ do not live up to the urgency to tackle climate change. Another potential flow could come in the form of a climate damages tax. The reality is that various options exist and their potential must be explored before the climate emergency escalates further.

Blog by Leia Achampong, Climate Justice Policy Officer at ACT Alliance EU

The ACT South Sudan Forum organized a one-day validation workshop for the development of Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan (EPRP) for South Sudan. The workshop was held on May 31, 2019 and brought together over 20 officials and invitees. Participants included delegates from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management (MHADM), the South Sudan Commission for Refugee Affairs (CRA) of Government of South Sudan and representatives from the United Nations. Civil society partners included OXFAM, CARE, CARITAS including ACT Forum members present in South Sudan.

The Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan (EPRP) has been an integral part of the ACT forum activity in South Sudan where all the 15 forum members work together to address the issues of Fragility, Conflict, and Vulnerability (FCV) through an integrated, coordinated and holistic resilience planning for effective disaster preparedness and conflict. The one-day validation workshop brought in a wide range of stakeholders and partners under one roof to discuss various components, its relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and the future sustainability of such initiative.

The workshop started with welcoming the participants and invitees by Mr. Alex Gupirii, Act South Sudan Forum Coordinator.

Mr. Magne Svendsen, Senior Advisor, Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) and Co-Convener of the ACT South Sudan Forum gave the keynote address reiterating the paramount importance of such plan taking into consideration various challenges and needs of the country. He also mentioned the value of such plan that would ensure the effective use of resources including both financial and manpower resources. Mr James Wani, Country Director of Christian Aid and Co-Convener of ACT South Sudan Forum thanked all the delegates for participating in the workshop. Mr Wani particularly focused on the importance of such joint initiatives and cited successful examples where common efforts saved a high number of lives and livelihoods in multi-hazard prone countries in the Asia Pacific. Ms Betty Scopas, Head of the Early Warning Systems of Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management (MHADM) congratulated the ACT Forum for such  initiative and mentioned the complementarity of the ACT plans with the Government of South Sudan’s broader resilience and DRR Strategy. She also emphasised the potential linkages of the ACT plans with the activities, policies and programmes of the ministry. 

The one day workshop was facilitated by Mr. Dillip Kumar, International Consultant, EPRP for ACT South Sudan Forum. Mr Kumar presented on the linkage of EPRP with the global, regional and national resilience agendas of South Sudan. He also mentioned the importance of EPRP and its contribution towards the achievement of the Sendai Framework for DRR (SFDRR) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). He also pointed out at the importance of a coordinated, integrated and holistic EPR plan that contributes towards the Strategic Plan of the MHADM and the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) along with the Refugee and Response Plan (RRP). Mr. Kumar also presented the detailed EPRP components and the process that led to  the development of the plan through an intensive consultations and review of literature. The forum members were involved and engaged in this process from the early stages and this contributed to a feeling of ownership and clarity.  

The plan of action was shared with the invitees as a final step before formal approval and finalization. It has also been agreed that a roll out and operationalization plan of the EPRP will also be developed.