PRESS RELEASE

As the two-week long UN climate talks in Marrakech, COP22, reach their final hours, international faith based humanitarian and development network ACT Alliance said that the transition to a green and resilient future has taken strides forward but urged governments to keep up and grow the momentum.

Commenting on the two-week deliberations the alliance welcomed the bold and ambitious move from the Climate Vulnerability Forum, an alliance of poor and vulnerable countries.

The head of the ACT alliance delegation to COP22, Dinesh Vyas, said: “Forum members  committed to switch to 100 percent renewable energy as soon as possible and to review their national climate plans before 2020, while having not contributed to climate change. These are the true climate leaders and they send a clear signal to historical and big carbon emitting countries.”

Additionally, the alliance highlighted that COP22 responded positively to the importance of reinforcing the work on Loss and Damage and its mechanism, and said that much work is yet to be done, including clear decisions about future mobilisation of climate finance.

At the meeting developing countries, backed up by the ACT Alliance, criticised existing climate finance plans from developed countries for its failure to acknowledge of previous climate agreements, in particular the lack of priority given to measures to address adaptation needs.

Vyas, said: “The Paris Agreement has been called a success, but the coming couple of years will show us if it will deliver the promise of a just, sustainable and resilient future. The conference in Marrakech has started a journey, and we look forward to seeing the ambitious agreements from Paris turned into action. We want to see vulnerable people and communities receiving support. We want to see coal mines closed and fossil fuels subsidies stopped. We want to see renewable energy reaching remote communities that are currently surviving without energy.”

“As people of faith, we believe that necessary action is possible and urgently required,” he continued. “This is our message to leaders of the world. We need them to take action, and to turn the ambitious words from the Paris Agreement, into projects and activities that will help us transition towards a green and resilient future.”

PRESS RELEASE

Today, as ministers attending the UN climate talks in Marrakech, COP22, meet to discuss climate finance, ACT Alliance is calling for more funds and support towards urgent climate action in developing countries.

Acknowledging the road map on climate finance that developed countries recently presented on how they want to deliver on their commitment to mobilise USD 100 bn per year from 2020, ACT Alliance raised critical concerns.

Dinesh Vyas, co-chair of the ACT alliance delegation at COP22, said: “On the ground where our members are active, we see an increasing need for climate action. Farmers need to prepare for long lasting droughts, fishermen along vulnerable coastlines need to reconstruct their livelihoods as they face flooding. The need for adaptation is growing. We know how to deal with it, but there is need for financial support to make it happen.”

“While we appreciate developed countries for the roadmap,” he continued, “we must also make clear that this roadmap is a political position, and not an agreed plan. There is no global agreement about how to account for climate finance, or what kind of resources we should accept. This is one of the most important points on the agenda of the UN climate talks, and these negotiations must continue now with a concrete input from developed countries.”

The alliance also urged countries to respect existing agreements about climate finance, such as ensuring a balance between mitigation and adaptation.

Martin Vogel, policy advisor for Church of Sweden and member of the ACT Alliance delegation at COP22, said: “We are sad to see that only 20 percent of climate finance in 2020 is expected to be allocated to adaptation. This is not good enough, and developed countries must take concrete action to scale up their support to developing countries wanting to adapt to the effects of climate change.”

Commenting on the emergence of climate finance due to global warming as an additional challenge in the provision of development aid to vulnerable nations, Vogel said: “Climate finance should be additional to existing commitments by developed countries to provide development aid to poor nations. This is not a principle developed countries have respected in their roadmap. A big part of the funds included in the roadmap are also reported as development aid, meaning that they are counted twice.”

ENDS

As we are gather in Marrakech for COP22, let us remember the innumerable women who are climate  refugees or displaced, and the women who have lost their livelihoods and lives due to climate change. Gender justice is central to climate justice. And women’s leadership is central and crucial to climate justice as they are more vulnerable and affected, and least involved in deciding the future of the globe. We call the leaders of every country to include women in every step of this urgent work.

The mandate of action plan on gender  created at the COP in Lima has been extended. This calls for mainstreaming gender and human rights in all of the processes. Therefore, let us lobby for the appointment of national gender focal points. Let us also work on nationally defined contributions (NDCs) to ensure they include gender and human rights as the NDCs of only 62 countries do not reflect this position.

Let us not see women as only a vulnerable group but also as key partners in our endeavours to confront climate change. We need to  advocate to override gender based injustice reinforced by cultural practices at all levels – grassroot to international level. Let the climate justice issue not be confined to the negotiation tables as only a technical issue beyond the knowledge of the grassroot women. It is important to ensure that the legal document reflects the everyday experience of those suffering the impacts of climate change.

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Joycia Thorat works for Church’s Auxiliary for social Action in India.

PRESS RELEASE

Leaders from various faiths today came together to hand an interfaith statement to the UNFCCC Executive Secretary calling for clear action to move from polluting fossil fuel use towards clean renewable energy sources.

Representatives from Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist communities among others showed their united support for the full and ambitious implementation of the 2015 Paris climate agreement to keep the temperature rise below 1.5C, and in their statement urged governments to accelerate climate action before 2020 including greatly increasing the level of ambition of the future Nationally-Determined Contributions.

Reverend Henrik Grape of Church of Sweden said: “As people of faith, we stand united in the care for the creation. God has given us the task to look after the earth, and he has trust in our commitment. This belief is strong in many religions, and it is a call for action.”

Dinesh Vyas, co-Chair of the ACT Alliance advisory group on climate advocacy said: “To make the Paris commitments happen, urgent action is needed. The human rights of people are fundamental, and must be protected. When countries increase their efforts to combat climate change, they should never forget people and communities who are affected.”

ENDS

PRESS RELEASE

Delegations from the ACT Alliance, Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and World Council of Churches (WCC) at the United Nations climate conference in Marrakech, Morocco, 7-18 November, are jointly demanding a more rapid transition to a low-carbon economy based on clean energy in order to stem rising global temperatures.

The faith-based organizations are represented at the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Morocco as part of their continuing advocacy and action on climate change.

On the opening day of the conference, the ACT Alliance expressed hope that the 2016 meeting should be an “action COP” in which “the targets set out in the Paris agreement must now be fleshed out to ensure that the headlines are followed by ambitious rules.”

“Governments have shown their commitment to tackling climate change and the agreements made at the Paris summit can now be fulfilled. However, an agreement with only headlines will not make any difference, therefore the agenda at COP 22 is very important to ensure that now the implementation must begin”, said Dinesh Vyas, leader of the ACT Alliance climate change working group.

The LWF, which in 2015 made a policy decision to not invest in fossil fuels, is represented at the UN climate conferences by its all-youth delegation, with members from the African region participating in Marrakech. At the climate negotiations, LWF is advocating for intergenerational justice and solidarity with those who are most vulnerable to the impact of extreme weather events.

LWF general secretary Rev. Dr Martin Junge said: “In the joint Catholic-Lutheran commemoration of the Reformation, we stated that our joint service in this world must extend to God’s creation, which suffers exploitation and the specific effects of insatiable greed. We must work toward a change in hearts and minds that leads to responsible care for God’s creation.”

In recent years, ecumenical groups have been deeply involved in advocacy and action on climate change and have taken part in every conference of parties. The WCC and related groups have taken strong moral positions on the fossil fuel industry that generates emissions that cause climate change. Putting their money where their mouth is, they have divested from fossil fuels, withdrawing a pool of significant investments from the industry.

People of faith should come together and work together on climate justice, and it is needed now more than ever, stated WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit. “I have met climate refugees during my recent visit to New Zealand and Australia – we are not talking about tomorrow, this is the current situation, and it’s time to take action now. Climate change and its adverse effects on the whole creation, especially on vulnerable, poor and indigenous communities is an urgent concern for all people of faith around the world. In the current increased risk of social and political tensions, fear, conflict and displacement in a climate-constrained world, our task is to bring justice and peace for the social and ecological wellbeing and sustainable development for all”, said Tveit.

In the run-up to Marrakech, the three general secretaries signed the COP22 Interfaith Climate Statement alongside 220 other faith leaders. The COP22 president, Morocco’s foreign minister Salaheddine Mezouar has been invited to receive the statement at a side event organized by ACT, LWF and WCC on 10 November.

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This is a joint press release of the ACT Alliance, Lutheran World Federation and World Council of Churches.

Related links:

COP22 Interfaith climate statement

http://www.interfaithstatement2016.org/

Photos from faith-based events at COP22

www.oikoumene.org/cop22photos

WCC work on care for creation and climate change

https://www.oikoumene.org/en/what-we-do/climate-change

LWF at COP22

https://www.lutheranworld.org/content/un-climate-change-talks-cop22

ACT Now for climate

www.actalliance.org/cop22

Cecilia Richard, 33, harvests millet in Captain, a village in southern Malawi that has been hard hit by drought in recent years, leading to chronic food insecurity, especially during the “hunger season,” when farmers are waiting for the harvest. Photo: Paul Jeffrey

Global warming is a challenge for us all, but farmers, and especially smallholders with limited capacities to cope with the effects of climate change, are on the frontline. A recent report from the UN Food and Agriculture organization, FAO, rings an alarm bell. They stress the need to have a special focus on the agriculture sector, as business as usual, is not an option.

Farming is a complex. So important for our survival, and yet so vulnerable when it comes to changes in the weather. We all need something to eat, and farmers provide us with a big portion of the food on our tables. Global population, and thus the need for food, is increasing. At the same time climate change challenge farmers, as floods, droughts, and extreme weather events threaten to destroy crops and harvests.

The current UN climate talks, COP22, in Marrakech, Marokko, have agriculture on the agenda. It is a difficult negotiation theme as interests differ a lot. For developing countries, the core concern is the adaptation. Climate change is already happening and there is an urgent need to assist farmers so that they can continue with their important work. This may require irrigation systems, pumps, early warning systems, seawalls, and new crops and cultivating methods.

However, the debate about agriculture is not only relating to adaptation. The agriculture sector is also part of the problem as it is responsible for a big share of global emissions. The temperature targets agreed at the climate summit in Paris last year, are not realistic to reach, unless there also are changes in agriculture, and food consumption. This is the reason why UN climate talks about agriculture become difficult. Different countries have different interests in agriculture. In some countries, it constitutes an important export sector, and in others, smallholder farmers produce for their living.

The FAO report point at the urgent need to take action. Business as usual is not an option. We need to make efforts to improve adaptation related to agriculture, and we need to ensure that emissions from agriculture decrease at the same time as production increase. This may sound like an impossible calculation, but I am optimistic. It is possible to make changes, also in important sectors as agriculture, but it may have broad effects, also on food culture and habits.

To ensure that there is a focus on agriculture and farming, this day is called “farmers day” at COP22. I hope this day also can be a day, where poor and vulnerable farmers are in the centre. UN talks tend to focus on the big picture, where a whole sector produce millons of tons of yield, as well as emissions. Still, the farmer, men and women in poor communities, are the ones standing on the frontline of climate change. Any agreement about agriculture must always remember these people.

___________

Mattias Söderberg, Senior advocacy advisor in DanChurchAid. Was elected co-chair for the ACT Alliance advisory group on climate change advocacy and was the acting head of the ACT delegations to UN climate talks from 2010 to 2015. Was co-chair of the ACT EU climate change working group from 2007 to 2009, and head of the ecumenical COP15 secretariat in 2009. Mattias is originally from Sweden, but live in Denmark.

Today the world already faces the beginnings of the worst impacts of climate change. A large number of poor and marginalised communities in developing countries face severe consequences due to increasing incidences of extreme weather events, sea level rise and unusual temperature variations.

Among the 13 deadliest floods faced across the globe in last five years, six were recorded in South Asia alone[1]. Small island countries such as Tuvalu are facing a crisis of their very existence due to rising sea levels. Unusual rising temperatures in various regions have not only disrupted the lives of people, but also severely impacted the flora and fauna of our living planet.

A large number of civil society groups are actively engaged across the globe in developing, advocating for, and promoting better adaptation interventions within vulnerable communities and raising climate justice issues within global platforms such as the UN climate talks, COP22, which started this week in Marrakesh, Morocco.

Within the series of COP processes, COP21 in Paris last year was a landmark event during which an ambitious agreement came into existence to address climate change. COP22, therefore, is a crucial COP during which further modalities of operation will need to be decided. We are at such a critical point in time to adequately address climate change that countries must now take immediate actions to raise their pre-and post-2020 ambition levels if we are to remain below the global average temperature 2℃. Therefore, we are expecting a great focus on renewable and energy efficiency measures from this meeting, which may set us on a path towards zero carbon development by 2050.

According to the Paris Agreement progress on adaptation will be tracked with a specific goal as it is linked with the five-year stock take mechanism; and civil society groups expect a clear cut road-map to achieve this goal in the spirit of this agreement. Clear guidance is also expected on the scaling up of finance for adaptation by 2020, as well as a well-defined role of the Adaption Fund referred to in the Paris Agreement. Loss and damage is rightly reflected as a separate focus within the Agreement, and it is expected that within the next year it should be adequately addressed under the Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) and its Executive Committee (ExCom).

Of course, finance is the key for effective implementation of the Paris Agreement. It is expected that commitments made towards reaching USD 100 billion for climate finance will be fulfilled by 2020, and same amount annually for the period from 2020-2025. Furthermore, it is expected that climate funds from both public and private sources will be subject to strict social and environmental safeguards, and instruments will be in place that directly channel the funding to women and gender rights groups.

The world needs a successful COP22, in which agreements made in Morocco lead to better safeguards for the most poor and marginalised people across the globe struggling to adapt to the climate change emergency today. We hope world leaders come to this stage with a positive mindset and commitment to resolving each and every hurdle towards an adequate and ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement.

____________

Dinesh Vyas. Working as a Development Professional with CASA India since 1999 on issues related to Socio-Economic and Political Empowerment of poor and marginalized communities in India. Experienced in integration of Climate Change and DRR issues with regular development interventions. Closely associated with various Indian Networks on Climate Change. Engaged with recent Climate Change Advocacy related issues with UNFCCC processes. Currently, following progress on INDCs, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and various other policies related to Development and Climate Change.

Today the world already faces the beginnings of the worst impacts of climate change. A large number of poor and marginalised communities in developing countries face severe consequences due to increasing incidences of extreme weather events, sea level rise and unusual temperature variations.

Among the 13 deadliest floods faced across the globe in last five years, six were recorded in South Asia alone[1]. Small island countries such as Tuvalu are facing a crisis of their very existence due to rising sea levels. Unusual rising temperatures in various regions have not only disrupted the lives of people, but also severely impacted the flora and fauna of our living planet.

A large number of civil society groups are actively engaged across the globe in developing, advocating for, and promoting better adaptation interventions within vulnerable communities and raising climate justice issues within global platforms such as the UN climate talks, COP22, which started this week in Marrakesh, Morocco.

Within the series of COP processes, COP21 in Paris last year was a landmark event during which an ambitious agreement came into existence to address climate change. COP22, therefore, is a crucial COP during which further modalities of operation will need to be decided. We are at such a critical point in time to adequately address climate change that countries must now take immediate actions to raise their pre-and post-2020 ambition levels if we are to remain below the global average temperature 2℃. Therefore, we are expecting a great focus on renewable and energy efficiency measures from this meeting, which may set us on a path towards zero carbon development by 2050.

According to the Paris Agreement progress on adaptation will be tracked with a specific goal as it is linked with the five-year stock take mechanism; and civil society groups expect a clear cut road-map to achieve this goal in the spirit of this agreement. Clear guidance is also expected on the scaling up of finance for adaptation by 2020, as well as a well-defined role of the Adaption Fund referred to in the Paris Agreement. Loss and damage is rightly reflected as a separate focus within the Agreement, and it is expected that within the next year it should be adequately addressed under the Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) and its Executive Committee (ExCom).

Of course, finance is the key for effective implementation of the Paris Agreement. It is expected that commitments made towards reaching USD 100 billion for climate finance will be fulfilled by 2020, and same amount annually for the period from 2020-2025. Furthermore, it is expected that climate funds from both public and private sources will be subject to strict social and environmental safeguards, and instruments will be in place that directly channel the funding to women and gender rights groups.

The world needs a successful COP22, in which agreements made in Morocco lead to better safeguards for the most poor and marginalised people across the globe struggling to adapt to the climate change emergency today. We hope world leaders come to this stage with a positive mindset and commitment to resolving each and every hurdle towards an adequate and ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement.

____________

Dinesh Vyas. Working as a Development Professional with CASA India since 1999 on issues related to Socio-Economic and Political Empowerment of poor and marginalized communities in India. Experienced in integration of Climate Change and DRR issues with regular development interventions. Closely associated with various Indian Networks on Climate Change. Engaged with recent Climate Change Advocacy related issues with UNFCCC processes. Currently, following progress on INDCs, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and various other policies related to Development and Climate Change.

Today the world already faces the beginnings of the worst impacts of climate change. A large number of poor and marginalised communities in developing countries face severe consequences due to increasing incidences of extreme weather events, sea level rise and unusual temperature variations.

Among the 13 deadliest floods faced across the globe in last five years, six were recorded in South Asia alone[1]. Small island countries such as Tuvalu are facing a crisis of their very existence due to rising sea levels. Unusual rising temperatures in various regions have not only disrupted the lives of people, but also severely impacted the flora and fauna of our living planet.

A large number of civil society groups are actively engaged across the globe in developing, advocating for, and promoting better adaptation interventions within vulnerable communities and raising climate justice issues within global platforms such as the UN climate talks, COP22, which started this week in Marrakesh, Morocco.

Within the series of COP processes, COP21 in Paris last year was a landmark event during which an ambitious agreement came into existence to address climate change. COP22, therefore, is a crucial COP during which further modalities of operation will need to be decided. We are at such a critical point in time to adequately address climate change that countries must now take immediate actions to raise their pre-and post-2020 ambition levels if we are to remain below the global average temperature 2℃. Therefore, we are expecting a great focus on renewable and energy efficiency measures from this meeting, which may set us on a path towards zero carbon development by 2050.

According to the Paris Agreement progress on adaptation will be tracked with a specific goal as it is linked with the five-year stock take mechanism; and civil society groups expect a clear cut road-map to achieve this goal in the spirit of this agreement. Clear guidance is also expected on the scaling up of finance for adaptation by 2020, as well as a well-defined role of the Adaption Fund referred to in the Paris Agreement. Loss and damage is rightly reflected as a separate focus within the Agreement, and it is expected that within the next year it should be adequately addressed under the Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) and its Executive Committee (ExCom).

Of course, finance is the key for effective implementation of the Paris Agreement. It is expected that commitments made towards reaching USD 100 billion for climate finance will be fulfilled by 2020, and same amount annually for the period from 2020-2025. Furthermore, it is expected that climate funds from both public and private sources will be subject to strict social and environmental safeguards, and instruments will be in place that directly channel the funding to women and gender rights groups.

The world needs a successful COP22, in which agreements made in Morocco lead to better safeguards for the most poor and marginalised people across the globe struggling to adapt to the climate change emergency today. We hope world leaders come to this stage with a positive mindset and commitment to resolving each and every hurdle towards an adequate and ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement.

____________

Dinesh Vyas. Working as a Development Professional with CASA India since 1999 on issues related to Socio-Economic and Political Empowerment of poor and marginalized communities in India. Experienced in integration of Climate Change and DRR issues with regular development interventions. Closely associated with various Indian Networks on Climate Change. Engaged with recent Climate Change Advocacy related issues with UNFCCC processes. Currently, following progress on INDCs, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and various other policies related to Development and Climate Change.

PRESS RELEASE

07 November 2016 – The historic speed with which countries approved the Paris climate agreement must continue into equally speedy action at the UN climate talks starting today in Morocco, international faith-based humanitarian and development network ACT Alliance has said.

Speaking as the COP22 talks begin today in Marrakesh and the UN Paris climate agreement entered into force on Friday 4 November, ACT Alliance said this meeting should be an “action COP” in which the targets set out in the Paris Agreement must now be fleshed out to ensure that the headlines are followed by ambitious rules.

The progress towards addressing the impacts of climate change truly took a step forward last year with the Paris agreement,” said ACT Alliance’s climate change working group lead Dinesh Vyas. “Governments have shown their commitment to tackling climate change and the agreements made at the Paris summit can now be fulfilled. However, an agreement with only headlines will not make any difference, therefore the agenda at the COP22 is very important to ensure that now the implementation must begin.”

The Paris climate agreement was adopted in December last year at the UN Climate talks, COP21, and is the first global agreement to include national commitments of action for all countries, as well as a mechanism to increase much needed ambition in the coming years.

However Mr Vyas warned: “Action, not just a mechanism for increased ambition, is urgently needed to ensure that ambition to tackle global temperature rises by transitioning to an economy based on clean energy is truly scaled up. We all know that the collective ambition agreed in Paris is still too low and will not keep global warming below 2 degrees celcius, let alone 1.5 degrees celcius. This should be a core concern of all parties in the coming days.”

“I see the struggle people face to adapt to the devastating impact of climate change on a daily basis in my work,” he added, “so I look forward to seeing increased action by governments in both developed and developing countries to ensure people can adapt to these challenges and live full lives with the dignity they deserve.”