World leaders must remember that those who have contributed least to the climate crisis face the its severest consequences said ACT Alliance members from Asia Pacific yesterday as they highlighted the increasing vulnerability of coastal areas in Asia and the Pacific to the impacts of climate change.

Speaking at the launch event of the ACT Alliance Asia/Pacific Forum in New Delhi on Monday, 14 September, members of the global humanitarian and development network said that over 90 percent of the disasters impacting vulnerable communities in the region, most of which are environment and climate related, go unnoticed in the global arena.

The creation of the ACT Alliance Asia/Pacific Forum brings together ACT Alliance members to advance strategic joint action in these disaster prone regions.

“Over 200 million people are affected by disasters every year in Asia and the Pacific,” said Anoop Sukumaran, ACT Alliance representative for Asia and Pacific. “The poor and vulnerable communities should be given a fair and just chance to develop their lives and livelihoods and to get all support they need to adapt to the impacts of the climate change.”

Supporting Sukumaran’s comments, Executive Director of Uniting World in Australia Rob Floyd said: “It is a matter of survival. For many people in the Pacific islands the impact of climate change questions their very existence as people.”

ACT Alliance is running a global campaign (www.actclimate.org) to scale up action for climate justice as the world leaders prepare for a UN summit in Paris in December 2015 where a global climate agreement will be reached.

“Public action is needed to put pressure on world leaders to stop catastrophic climate change,” said Sushant Agrawal, Moderator of ACT Alliance. “While we globally mobilise support for climate justice we also stand with communities to support their resilience and livelihoods as they seek to adapt to the changes around them.”

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Notes to editors:

1. ACT Alliance is a global coalition of more than 140 churches and faith-based organizations working together in over 140 countries to create positive and sustainable change in the lives of poor and marginalized people regardless of their religion, political beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, race or nationality while keeping with the highest international codes and standards.
2. For more information contact ACT Alliance Director, COO Pauliina Parhiala on + 41 79 963 53 33 or Estelle Marais, Head of Communications on + 41 79 358 3171

See below some photos of thee launch event of the ACT Alliance Asia/Pacific Forum in New Delhi on Monday.

World leaders must remember that those who have contributed least to the climate crisis face the its severest consequences said ACT Alliance members from Asia Pacific yesterday as they highlighted the increasing vulnerability of coastal areas in Asia and the Pacific to the impacts of climate change.

Speaking at the launch event of the ACT Alliance Asia/Pacific Forum in New Delhi on Monday, 14 September, members of the global humanitarian and development network said that over 90 percent of the disasters impacting vulnerable communities in the region, most of which are environment and climate related, go unnoticed in the global arena.

The creation of the ACT Alliance Asia/Pacific Forum brings together ACT Alliance members to advance strategic joint action in these disaster prone regions.

“Over 200 million people are affected by disasters every year in Asia and the Pacific,” said Anoop Sukumaran, ACT Alliance representative for Asia and Pacific. “The poor and vulnerable communities should be given a fair and just chance to develop their lives and livelihoods and to get all support they need to adapt to the impacts of the climate change.”

Supporting Sukumaran’s comments, Executive Director of Uniting World in Australia Rob Floyd said: “It is a matter of survival. For many people in the Pacific islands the impact of climate change questions their very existence as people.”

ACT Alliance is running a global campaign (www.actclimate.org) to scale up action for climate justice as the world leaders prepare for a UN summit in Paris in December 2015 where a global climate agreement will be reached.

“Public action is needed to put pressure on world leaders to stop catastrophic climate change,” said Sushant Agrawal, Moderator of ACT Alliance. “While we globally mobilise support for climate justice we also stand with communities to support their resilience and livelihoods as they seek to adapt to the changes around them.”

____________

Notes to editors:

1. ACT Alliance is a global coalition of more than 140 churches and faith-based organizations working together in over 140 countries to create positive and sustainable change in the lives of poor and marginalized people regardless of their religion, political beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, race or nationality while keeping with the highest international codes and standards.
2. For more information contact ACT Alliance Director, COO Pauliina Parhiala on + 41 79 963 53 33 or Estelle Marais, Head of Communications on + 41 79 358 3171

See below some photos of thee launch event of the ACT Alliance Asia/Pacific Forum in New Delhi on Monday.

World leaders must remember that those who have contributed least to the climate crisis face the its severest consequences said ACT Alliance members from Asia Pacific yesterday as they highlighted the increasing vulnerability of coastal areas in Asia and the Pacific to the impacts of climate change.

Speaking at the launch event of the ACT Alliance Asia/Pacific Forum in New Delhi on Monday, 14 September, members of the global humanitarian and development network said that over 90 percent of the disasters impacting vulnerable communities in the region, most of which are environment and climate related, go unnoticed in the global arena.

The creation of the ACT Alliance Asia/Pacific Forum brings together ACT Alliance members to advance strategic joint action in these disaster prone regions.

“Over 200 million people are affected by disasters every year in Asia and the Pacific,” said Anoop Sukumaran, ACT Alliance representative for Asia and Pacific. “The poor and vulnerable communities should be given a fair and just chance to develop their lives and livelihoods and to get all support they need to adapt to the impacts of the climate change.”

Supporting Sukumaran’s comments, Executive Director of Uniting World in Australia Rob Floyd said: “It is a matter of survival. For many people in the Pacific islands the impact of climate change questions their very existence as people.”

ACT Alliance is running a global campaign (www.actclimate.org) to scale up action for climate justice as the world leaders prepare for a UN summit in Paris in December 2015 where a global climate agreement will be reached.

“Public action is needed to put pressure on world leaders to stop catastrophic climate change,” said Sushant Agrawal, Moderator of ACT Alliance. “While we globally mobilise support for climate justice we also stand with communities to support their resilience and livelihoods as they seek to adapt to the changes around them.”

____________

Notes to editors:

1. ACT Alliance is a global coalition of more than 140 churches and faith-based organizations working together in over 140 countries to create positive and sustainable change in the lives of poor and marginalized people regardless of their religion, political beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, race or nationality while keeping with the highest international codes and standards.
2. For more information contact ACT Alliance Director, COO Pauliina Parhiala on + 41 79 963 53 33 or Estelle Marais, Head of Communications on + 41 79 358 3171

See below some photos of thee launch event of the ACT Alliance Asia/Pacific Forum in New Delhi on Monday.

During the last 20 years, the Czech Republic has been struck by extreme floods of great extent, numerous flash floods of local importance and uncommon natural disasters such as tornado in 2013.

Global climate change may contribute to more extreme weather events like these and communities need to be ready.

Dolni Berkovice, a village with 1.500 inhabitants in the Central Bohemia Region, has always been endangered by the river Elbe.

However, no one remembers the floods to be as destructive as in the last decade.

The village has been flooded three times in 11 years.

The first floods came in 2002, followed by flood in 2006 and lastly in 2013. Even though plenty of work on mitigation measures has been done and a functional and effective rescue system has been established, the protection of vulnerable inhabitants has still many gaps.

ACT member Diaconia ECCB – The Centre for Relief and Development has launched a project named “Resilient Municipality” with goal of promoting resilience of communities such as Dolni Berkovice to fill in these gaps. Since it is a community managed disaster risk reduction project, the inhabitants themselves identify the unresolved issues and they will achieve the positive change with our guidance and support.

It is not all about flood barriers, but more about accepting the responsibility of their own protection and also the safety of their neighbors.

So far, the project is being run in three communities – Dolni Berkovice, Terezin in Northern Bohemia and Sobeslav in Southern Bohemia. It is a pilot project and such activities had never been implemented in the context of the Czech Republic before.

During the last 20 years, the Czech Republic has been struck by extreme floods of great extent, numerous flash floods of local importance and uncommon natural disasters such as tornado in 2013.

Global climate change may contribute to more extreme weather events like these and communities need to be ready.

Dolni Berkovice, a village with 1.500 inhabitants in the Central Bohemia Region, has always been endangered by the river Elbe.

However, no one remembers the floods to be as destructive as in the last decade.

The village has been flooded three times in 11 years.

The first floods came in 2002, followed by flood in 2006 and lastly in 2013. Even though plenty of work on mitigation measures has been done and a functional and effective rescue system has been established, the protection of vulnerable inhabitants has still many gaps.

ACT member Diaconia ECCB – The Centre for Relief and Development has launched a project named “Resilient Municipality” with goal of promoting resilience of communities such as Dolni Berkovice to fill in these gaps. Since it is a community managed disaster risk reduction project, the inhabitants themselves identify the unresolved issues and they will achieve the positive change with our guidance and support.

It is not all about flood barriers, but more about accepting the responsibility of their own protection and also the safety of their neighbors.

So far, the project is being run in three communities – Dolni Berkovice, Terezin in Northern Bohemia and Sobeslav in Southern Bohemia. It is a pilot project and such activities had never been implemented in the context of the Czech Republic before.

During the last 20 years, the Czech Republic has been struck by extreme floods of great extent, numerous flash floods of local importance and uncommon natural disasters such as tornado in 2013.

Global climate change may contribute to more extreme weather events like these and communities need to be ready.

Dolni Berkovice, a village with 1.500 inhabitants in the Central Bohemia Region, has always been endangered by the river Elbe.

However, no one remembers the floods to be as destructive as in the last decade.

The village has been flooded three times in 11 years.

The first floods came in 2002, followed by flood in 2006 and lastly in 2013. Even though plenty of work on mitigation measures has been done and a functional and effective rescue system has been established, the protection of vulnerable inhabitants has still many gaps.

ACT member Diaconia ECCB – The Centre for Relief and Development has launched a project named “Resilient Municipality” with goal of promoting resilience of communities such as Dolni Berkovice to fill in these gaps. Since it is a community managed disaster risk reduction project, the inhabitants themselves identify the unresolved issues and they will achieve the positive change with our guidance and support.

It is not all about flood barriers, but more about accepting the responsibility of their own protection and also the safety of their neighbors.

So far, the project is being run in three communities – Dolni Berkovice, Terezin in Northern Bohemia and Sobeslav in Southern Bohemia. It is a pilot project and such activities had never been implemented in the context of the Czech Republic before.

ACT PRESS RELEASES

European advocacy network ACT Alliance EU has called on the EU member states to collectively respond to the refugee crisis impacting Europe with a fair and mandatory sharing of responsibility for receiving refugees and respecting their human rights.

In a statement the network urged EU member states to adhere to the international legal instruments that they have ratified for the protection of refugees, and make concerted efforts to assist those seeking refuge in Europe.

“These people are fleeing from conflict and are reaching out to Europe for help,” said Floris Faber, Director of ACT Alliance EU. “Certainly, the EU cannot deny them their rights, though perhaps most importantly we must support them with legal and practical responses that respect their rights and maintain their dignity.”

The majority of those taking the route to Europe are refugees coming from Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq and Somalia and their numbers continue to rise.

While most people arriving are fleeing war, conflict or persecution in their home countries, the alliance highlighted that many are also fleeing deteriorating conditions in some refugee-hosting countries and countries of transit, which do not offer safety or the possibility to establish a new existence.

“As faith-based organisations we are deeply committed to the inviolable dignity of all individuals, as well as to the concepts of the common good, global solidarity and the promotion of a society that welcomes strangers,” said Faber. “It is our moral and faith imperative as human beings to reach out of our comfort zones and to offer a helping hand to the needy and the most vulnerable, such as the many who have taken arduous journeys to come here, looking for a better life for themselves and their families.”

ACT Alliance members are providing life-saving humanitarian aid in the countries of origin, including Syria and Iraq; in neighbouring countries including Turkey and Lebanon, and increasingly in transit countries including Greece, Serbia and Hungary.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

1. ACT Alliance is a network of over 140 church and faith based organisations working together in 140 countries to achieve sustainable change in the lives of people affected by crisis, disasters, poverty and injustice.
2. ACT Alliance EU is the advocacy office to the EU of international humanitarian and development network ACT Alliance. Its purpose is to promote justice and peace and the eradication of poverty by influencing European Union decision-making processes as they affect developing countries.
3. The full ACT Alliance EU statement can be found here:
4. For more information contact Floris Faber, Faber@actalliance.eu, +32 2 2345660
5. For more information about ACT Alliance visit actalliance.org

ACT member International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) is working to protect the health and well-being of more than 4,300 vulnerable Syrian refugees with improved access to safe water at two informal settlements in Lebanon.

At El Rahmeh, a northern Lebanon settlement of 350 Syrian refugee families, IOCC drilled water wells and installed pumps, storage tanks, and pipelines to channel clean water to communal kitchens, showers and latrines constructed by IOCC.

The newly installed sewer line serves the sanitation needs of both the camp and the neighboring community of 1,500 Lebanese residents.   In Lebanon’s Bekaa valley, around 450 Syrian families living at the Bar Elias refugee settlement also have access to safe water from communal water storage tanks as well as a newly constructed sanitation system that carries waste away from their homes to large capacity septic tanks.

Each day, thousands of Syrian refugees living in Lebanon’s informal settlements face a growing risk of getting sick each time they take a drink of water.  Contracting an illness from poor quality water sources increases sharply during hot summer months when the heat creates an ideal breeding ground for waterborne diseases.   The threat is especially deadly to children, who make up half of the 1.2 million refugees living in Lebanon.

“Lebanon is stretched to its limits with the addition of more than one million Syrian refugees now living here,” stated Ruba Khoury, IOCC Country Representative for Lebanon.  “In the absence of official camps, refugees have settled in more than 1,000 host communities throughout the country.  The increase in refugee numbers has overburdened national water and wastewater systems.  Without access to safe water or sewage systems, the refugees are continuously confronted with diseases related to poor hygiene.  IOCC’s efforts to bring safe water and sanitation to the refugees in these two settlements has improved their quality of life, and eased some of the burden on the country’s infrastructure.”

Muhal, a 28-year-old refugee from the Syrian city of Qusayr, stands under a scorching summer sun as she fills several plastic water buckets from a cluster of large storage tanks.   She doesn’t mind the heat as long as she has access to clean water close to her tent. “It has improved our condition a great deal,” said the former nurse.  “Before we got the tanks, we had to walk several miles to collect water, and it wasn’t even safe to drink.”  “We desperately needed water,” added Abdu, 33, a Syrian refugee from Homs and father of four children ages 18 months to 12 years.  “Now water is still precious to us, but we know it is safe.”

A team of IOCC hygiene educators regularly monitor the water supply to make sure it is safe, and provide hygiene promotion sessions where refugee mothers and children learn how to prevent disease by keeping their surroundings clean and properly washing their hands, food, and laundry.

The new water and sanitation system installation, implemented with support from ACT Alliance partner, Norwegian Church Aid, is part of a larger ongoing effort by IOCC to improve living conditions for Syria’s refugee families.  Since 2012, IOCC has provided humanitarian relief to 3.1 million Syrian people displaced in their own country or living as refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Armenia, Greece, and Serbia.

One month since ACT Alliance released its alert, ACT member Hungarian Interchurch Aid (HIA) continues to support children and mothers in reception centres in Hungary.

See our photo gallery here:

Photos from Daniel Fekete/HIA/ACT

At the launch of its secretariat presence in Amman, Jordan, on 31 August, ACT Alliance called for the protection and support of refugees in accordance with the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, Refugee Protocol, regional laws and standards, United Nations resolutions and international human rights and humanitarian law.

ACT Alliance members are working with refugees and internally displaced people on all continents.

As the Syrian conflict enters its fifth year, the Alliance said the prevailing refugee situation in the Middle East has caught many governments in the north lacking the will or the capacity to address it.

Only decisive global response will adequately address the refugee crisis, the alliance has said.

“Granting support to refugees and ensuring their dignity is primarily a responsibility of governments,” said Gunilla Hallonsten, International Director of ACT member Church of Sweden, at the event. “This crisis of global proportions will not be addressed in the Middle East alone. It requires global action and above all willingness of all to help the affected people at their country of origin, in transit and wherever they would be seeking refuge.”

Average length of stay in a refugee camp is over 17 years

Members of the alliance highlighted that impacts of this global crisis are being felt in people`s lives and livelihoods, on local markets, in employment and social and power relations that determine people’s future opportunities, adding that the realities of aid are also changing while the international system is overwhelmed and under-resourced in responding to the crisis.

“A key task for churches and relief organisations is to offer the perspective of hope to the refugees and affected populations,” said Ramzi Zananiri, member of the Governing Board of ACT Alliance representing the Middle East.

In a panel discussion during the launch reception, panelists reminded the audience that the average length of stay in a refugee camp is over 17 years. ACT Alliance has been calling for a greater investment in resilience and accountability to disaster affected populations.

Speaking about the launch of the ACT secretariat presence in Amman, Gorden Simango, Regional Representative for the Middle East, said: “Together we are stronger,” explaining that ACT Alliance members would be intensifying their collaboration to meet the needs.

ACT Alliance General Secretary John Nduna, moved by his visit in the Zaatari refugee camp earlier the same day, congratulated and thanked ACT Alliance partners and members for their support of the alliance’s  work in the Middle East.