Press Release - ACT Alliance

A long way to go at COP27

COP27 has reached its halfway point, and there is a long way to go if this conference is to conclude with strong steps forward for climate justice.

“We must not get distracted by technical and procedural discussions,” said Rudelmar Bueno de Faria. “The parties must keep the needs of the most vulnerable people, including women and girls in all their diversity, indigenous people, and those in developing nations, at the forefront of their negotiations, and the decisions of this COP must provide the finance, voice, and seats at the table for them.”

ACT Alliance is a faith-based organization, and like all faith groups, ACT’s members are present in communities before, during and after disasters, including climate-induced ones. “Churches and other communities of faith are best placed to know the situation and to be first responders,” said Mattias Soderberg, co-chair of ACT Alliance’s Climate Working Group. “As integral parts of the communities where we work, we know that all people are part of their communities, including youth, women, and indigenous people. Climate resilience requires communities too, and those communities must include the voices of all.”

ACT Alliance notes that there is not enough progress in many workstreams.

Mitigation- keep your eye on the prize

A strong, climate justice focused result on mitigation must keep focused on the need to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C. To achieve this, we must think outside the box, looking at economy-wide emissions cuts, nature-based solutions, locally led processes, and other innovative methods as work to enhance mitigation ambition. We must not allow backtracking of progress so far to keep 1.5 alive, but ensure we keep the bar within reach.

Article 6- human rights at the centre

Human rights, gender responsive text, and the inclusion of indigenous peoples in the processes are necessary to a good result on Article 6. In addition, mechanisms must be transparent and clear, avoiding double counting or inclusion of false solutions.

Gender- a weak tea so far

The text on gender is weak language to date. States are “encouraged” rather than “urged,”, and the strongest commitments are listed as “voluntary.” The language must be stronger! It is important that finance is availed to strengthen gender responsiveness in climate action.

“Women and girls did not volunteer to be more impacted by climate emergencies. We want to see their involvement in all levels of leadership and decision-making processes for climate actions”, said Margareta Koltai, policy adviser from Act Church of Sweden.

Adaptation- missing in inaction?

COP27 was touted as an adaptation and implementation COP, but there has been very little movement on either topic. The decision to double adaptation funding made at COP26 in Glasgow is a good one, but the question remains of who is benefiting from the funds. We need good quality adaptation finance flows, with grants rather than loans, and where funds reach the people who need them most: the vulnerable people who have done the least to cause climate change yet face the worst of its impacts.

Finance- 17 billion short and counting

While we applaud the decision to double adaptation finance, we underscore the importance of funding being new and additional, not being drawn from other incredibly important work, including humanitarian response and ODA. We call on developed nations to meet their commitment to 100 billion dollars per year, not the 83 billion that Canada and Germany reported in week 1. And we know that the majority of these billions are loans that much be paid back, and most of the funds are taken from existing aid budgets, leaving less funds for projects supporting education, healthcare and democracy.

“We know that the needs for adaptation and loss and damage will continue to grow, and that 100 billion is not nearly enough,” said Cornelia Füllkrug-Weitzel, Special Envoy for Climate Change of ACT Alliance. “People and communities are impacted by climate induced disasters every day, and support must be available to communities to adapt and recover.”

Loss and Damage- stepping stones to a solution

ACT is pleased that loss and damage was included in the agenda for COP27, but having it on the agenda is not enough. COP27 must agree to the need for loss and damage finance- new and additional financing, in the form of grants, not loans Once COP27 agrees to the need for finance, work can continue towards COP28.

From deliberation to action

“As we start the second week, we remind our political leadership that we are at a tipping point,” said Julius Mbatia, global climate justice program manager at ACT Alliance. This year’s global climate talks must set decisions that facilitate implementation to secure our planet and the lives of those vulnerable to climate impacts. We need no more failed commitments, shifting blame and burden. It is time we repurpose this process from deliberations to action.”

Media contact

Simon Chambers WhatsApp: +1-416-435-0972 simon.chambers@actalliance.org

Gender skit at COP27: building a pyramid of images

November 14, 2022

Gender skit at COP27: building a pyramid of images

Join ACT Alliance, Christian Aid and members of other faith-based organisations for a skit with visuals that will show the need for increased gender responsiveness in the negotiations. Images and stories of women from around the world will be shared, and then used to build a pyramid over a banner calling for gender justice in climate justice.

The stunt will highlight the reality that women and girls are more impacted by climate change, and underscore the need for climate justice to involve the equal participation of women and girls in all their diversity.

When: Monday, November 14 15h30 (Cairo time)

Where: In front of the monolith between the zones

Interviews can be made available with

Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, General Secretary, ACT Alliance
Mariana Paoli, Global Advocacy Lead, Christian Aid

MEDIA CONTACT: Simon Chambers, ACT Alliance, WhatsApp: +1-416-435-0972 or simon.chambers@actalliance.org

Press release: Climate finance skit at COP27- Detectives hunting for climate finance

Press release: Climate finance skit at COP27: Detectives hunting for climate finance

November 9, 2022

Climate finance skit at COP27: Detectives hunting for climate finance

Join ACT Alliance, Christian Aid and members of other faith-based organisations for a skit with visuals that will show detectives hunting for the missing climate finance, following up on missing issues including “Loss and Damage”, “Gender justice”, and “Political will”. The reward for returning them to the negotiations? Climate justice!

The action will illustrate the need for new and additional finance to reach the $100bn that has not yet been achieved, and the funds needed to meet the actual needs of vulnerable states and communities for adaptation, loss and damage, to survive the impacts of climate change that they have done so little to contribute to. 

When: Thursday, Nov 10 at 13h00 (Cairo time)

Where: In front of plenary room 2 (Ramses)

Interviews can be made available with: 

Cornelia Füllkrug-Weitzel, Special Envoy for Climate Justice ACT Alliance

Mariana Paoli, Global Advocacy Lead, Christian Aid

MEDIA CONTACT: Simon Chambers, ACT Alliance, WhatsApp: +1-416-435-0972 or simon.chambers@actalliance.org

ACT Alliance concerned about the negative effects of cuts in development assistance to Global Health [Press release WHA75]

The World Health Organisation opened the 75th World Health Assembly yesterday on Sunday, the 22^nd of May, 2022.

Tomorrow, the Assembly will discuss WHO’s work in health emergencies and the plans to improve pandemic preparedness.

Four regions are currently experiencing a rise in Covid-19 cases, and the number of deaths is on the rise in Africa. The pandemic is not over, while the attention and the funding seem to be fading.

Governments in Europe are cutting their aid budgets including funding for global health. While the WHO is calling for adequate resources from States to meet its crucial mandate, some traditionally key donors are channelling less than expected funding into its structure, and other global health initiatives.

The update submitted to the assembly from the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness is worrying. They argue that progress is slow and, in their words, at the present pace “the world is laying the groundwork for failure and the risk of a new pandemic with the same devastating consequences”.

“If confirmed, these budget cuts are worrisome especially at a time when we should redouble our efforts to prevent future pandemics, not reduce them. The humanitarian impact of outbreaks like the COVID-19 has a negative effect not only on community and global health but also on justice and human rights. I trust that governments will reconsider these myopic cuts and work collectively to strengthen and support WHO’s work”, says the General Secretary of the ACT Alliance Rudelmar Bueno de Faria.

“Now is the time to build WHO stronger, not to weaken this important tool for pandemic preparedness”, says Dagfinn Høybråten, General Secretary of Norwegian Church Aid, a member organisation of the ACT Alliance.

“We are concerned of the overall cuts to development aid, including cuts to important global health work such as the Global Fund as seen in Sweden. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the world was not on track to reach the SDG 3 on health and wellbeing. A strong and ongoing investment in global health is crucial to build back better from the pandemic.” says Erik Lysen, moderator of the ACT Alliance and Director of Act Church of Sweden.

For media enquiries please contact:

Daniela Varano, ACT Alliance, daniela.varano@actalliance.org or

Dr Marianna Leite, Global Advocacy and Development Policy Manager, ACT Alliance, marianna.leite@actalliance.org

ACT Alliance is a global network of religious organisations and churches operating in more than 145 countries worldwide working on humanitarian relief, migration and displacement, climate and gender justice.

Local churches are frontline response for 10 million displaced Ukrainians

Joint media briefing ACT Alliance and World Council of Churches

During a 22 March press briefing, a delegation from the World Council of Churches (WCC) and ACT Alliance shared their observations from a recent trip to Hungary, Romania and Ukraine, where they witnessed firsthand both urgent humanitarian needs and a robust church response.

“You see the consequences of war which is forcing millions of people to leave their land,” said Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, ACT Alliance general secretary, noting the heightened risk for human trafficking and forced labor.

“We heard from ACT members and from church workers that the first wave of refugees were mainly people with healthy financial situations and good connections in Europe,” he said, while a second wave comprised people with fewer resources.

“The third wave we are facing now is of people without any resources,” he said. “During the visit we could see the distinctive role that church and faith-based organizations played in the emergency response so far.”

Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri, WCC deputy general secretary, said that the reason church response is able to happen is because many churches are well-equipped structurally to quickly turn compassion into actions that address human need, wherever it occurs.

“When in Hungary and in Romania, we heard the churches telling us that they were among the first ones to respond to the crisis at the borders,” she said. “For me, it’s not so much the churches responding to this particular issue—it’s because they already have structures in the churches to respond to any humanitarian need.”

Those structures have been used with a sense of caring and mission by churches that have responded, for example, to COVID-19 and other disasters, she added. “They are using the same structures to respond now to the humanitarian needs of the refugees coming out of Ukraine.”

Peter Prove, WCC director of international affairs, commented on the large dimension of this humanitarian catastrophe. “I think the latest figures we have heard from UN sources are something approaching 10 million people are displaced as a result of this conflict, both refugees crossing the borders into other countries, and internally displaced within Ukraine.”

That amounts to one quarter of the population of Ukraine, he said. “That really sets the dimensions of this crisis in perspective,” he said.

Prove took a moment to celebrate the response of local churches. “This welcome, organized at the local level by local communities and local churches, is incredibly warm and incredibly hospitable, and that is very much to be celebrated,” he said.

All three speakers emphasized the need for the same level of hospitality and care for people of color and others who are not receiving equal consideration as they, too, flee Ukraine.

The press briefing was moderated by Simon Chambers, director of communication ACT Alliance and Marianne Ejdersten, WCC director of communication.

This story was also published on: https://www.oikoumene.org/news/local-churches-are-frontline-response-for-10-million-displaced-ukrainians-shares-wcc-and-act-alliance

Faith leaders: More must be done to achieve climate justice after COP26

After two intense weeks of negotiations, civil society action, discussion and prayer, COP26 has come to an end. ACT Alliance and The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) have 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. They face the worst effects of climate change and have done the least to contribute to it.

As people of faith, committed to care for creation and work for climate justice and the dignity of all, we are disappointed by the results from COP26 in Glasgow. What has been negotiated does not go far enough in offering concrete solutions to the climate crisis. Without details and actions, promises are empty.

We welcome the launch of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA). In addition, individual countries, such as Scotland and Denmark, have made commitments to significantly increase their funding to the Global South for climate finance, which is one of our major concerns. We believe this is a good step forward and look forward to seeing the actions taken by the members of BOGA, and also to seeing other nations join in this key commitment.

However, the world urgently needs more ambition and more concerted action to achieve climate justice and keep global warming at 1.5C or below.

As people of faith, we are disappointed but not disheartened by the lack of results from COP26. 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.

We must act now. Creation is not for sale.

“In order to ‘Keep 1.5 Alive’, the world must phase out fossil fuel production and consumption as fast as possible. Limiting global temperature rise to 1.5C is vital in order to lessen the impacts of climate change on the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world, particularly women and girls who are the most affected by climate induced disasters,” said Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, General Secretary of ACT Alliance.

“We have been inspired by the relentless call for climate justice by faith actors and civil society. We must keep the momentum and continue to call for bold action by all actors at all levels. This is the big crisis of our time, and there is no time to lose. Its consequences will affect future generations all over the world,” said Rev. Anne Burghardt, General Secretary of LWF.

“Since it is Code Red now we call all private, social, economic and private actors to come up with ambitious and concrete actions to manage the climate crisis together,“ said Prof. Cornelia Füllkrug-Weitzel, ACT Alliance’s Goodwill Ambassador for Climate Justice.

“COP26 was a missed opportunity to take significant steps towards addressing the climate crisis and protecting the most vulnerable,” said Isaiah Toroitich, Head of Global Advocacy for LWF.

ACT Alliance

ACT Alliance is a global protestant and orthodox faith-based coalition organised in national and regional forums operating in more than 120 countries. Through its more than 140 members, ACT Alliance works on climate justice, humanitarian aid, gender justice, migration and displacement, and peace and security to support local communities.

ACT Alliance’s goal is to promote a locally-led and coordinated approach to advocacy, humanitarian and developmental issues.

LWF

The Lutheran World Federation is a global communion of 148 churches in the Lutheran tradition, representing over 77 million Christians in 99 countries. As a communion, LWF advocates for the human rights and dignity of all. At COP26, LWF has focused on strengthening climate action and advocacy at all levels. Young people are vital agents of change and form the greater part of the LWF’s delegation to COP26.

Media contacts

Simon Chambers

Director of Communication, ACT Alliance

simon.chambers@actalliance.org

+1- 416-435-0972

Rev. Arni Svanur Danielsson

Head of Communication, The Lutheran World Federation

arni.danielsson@lutheranworld.org

+41 22 791 6367

Faith leaders urge US President Biden to end embargo against the Cuban people

In a 15 October letter to US president Joe Biden, ACT Alliance General Secretary Rudelmar Bueno de Faria joined the World Council of Churches, Council of Churches in Cuba, and other faith-based groups in urging an end to nearly 60 years of embargo against the Cuban people, who are facing an appalling humanitarian situation.

“The Obama administration, with your support, sought to rethink the policy and pursue re-engagement with Cuba, by relaxing sanctions, allowing direct flights between the two countries, and easing restrictions on US citizens traveling to and doing business in Cuba,” the letter reads.

“The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the problems in Cuba,” the letter continues. “We ask you to take a bold choice and end the embargo against the Cuban people.”

The letter also calls for eliminating the cap on remittance and reactivating non-family remittances, allowing Cubans abroad to better support their own families and communities.

“We strongly believe that there are other ways to engage with the Cuban authorities to discuss and overcome disagreements on issues and legacies, without affecting the people who want to live in human dignity,” the letter concludes.

Read the full letter here.

OPINION: It’s time to shift to locally-led climate change adaptation

This opinion piece was originally published by the Thomson Reuters Foundation and is available here.

Communities on the frontlines of global warming impacts rarely have a say in decisions made to protect them. This must change.

Birgitte Qvist-Sørensen is moderator of the ACT Alliance and general secretary of DanChurchAid; Reverend Ssekasiko Wilberforce is a local faith leader in Uganda, and Wanjira Mathai is vice president and regional director for Africa at the World Resources Institute.

The past year brought unprecedented suffering from COVID-19. On top of the pandemic, climate change continued to batter already vulnerable communities, disproportionately hurting those with the least resources to respond.

Yet despite these impacts, those same communities on the frontlines rarely have a say in the decisions made to protect themselves from climate impacts. This must change.

We must shift power and resources to local actors so they can choose the solutions that work for their communities. Doing so is vital to creating a more equitable, resilient society.

The choice is clear: Governments and donors can return to business as usual, providing funding with short time-horizons and arduous, top-down processes to access it. Or they can shift to a world where local actors, including poor and marginalized populations, have the power to shape their own future.

This pathway toward “business unusual” offers several obvious benefits. To start, investing in locally led adaptation can create more effective, context-specific solutions. Local communities know how COVID-19 and climate change affect their communities. They are often the first responders during crises.

By ensuring local actors have agency in building resilience to climate impacts, we can ensure these decisions are grounded in local knowledge and experiences. Combined with scientific information, this can lead to more effective and sustained resilience — and, in turn, more lives saved, less hunger, and more opportunities.

In Kanoni village, in Uganda’s Gomba District, for example, climate change drives frequent droughts that dwindle the water supply, leading to food shortages and low pasture for the animals.

To proactively address this problem, which is a daily hindrance, the people of the Kanoni village started planting indigenous trees to retain water, improve the soil, and create shadows to prevent the soil from baking in the sun.

Locally led adaptation can also address underlying inequities by giving agency to local actors on the frontlines of climate change, including women, youth, disabled, displaced and marginalized ethnic groups.

Locally led adaptation efforts must be intentional about integrating gender-based, economic, and political inequalities that are root causes of vulnerability.

In the face of severe drought, a group of women farmers in India’s Maharashtra state bucked the trend of growing only a few cash crops, which kept failing in their water-scarce region.

Working with a local grassroots women-led organization, they grew a diverse mix of water-efficient crops that farmers can both sell and feed their families with. This agricultural transformation has boosted yields, improved livelihoods and has since been expanded to hundreds of other farms in the region.

Ensuring local actors have agency is both the right and smart thing to do. Yet, to scale up and develop climate adaptation solutions, local communities still need more support and easier access to funding.

While not all adaptation needs to be locally owned or led, governments, development banks and donors must commit to putting more resources into local hands for local adaptation priorities. Communities need accessible funding that supports long-term development of local governance processes, capacity, and institutions to build resilience, without expecting them to shoulder the burden of adaptation.

The Global Commission on Adaptation’s Adapt Now report strongly calls for expanding financial resources available to local actors and creating structures that give local groups greater influence on decision-making.

In Kenya, climate change and intensified land-use changes have caused Lake Baringo to rise by over 46 inches (116 cm) since May, affecting jobs, education and health services.

To support the local communities that rely on this lake, the United Kingdom launched the Community Resilience in the Kerio River Ecosystem (CORKE) program, which helps shift agency to community members who can identify hazards and vulnerabilities when developing climate change actions and priorities.

Local communities — whether they are farmers in Uganda, grassroots women in India or villages dependant on Lake Baringo in Kenya — need capacity and resources to help make and implement decisions that affect them.

This week, the online Climate Adaptation Summit, hosted by the Netherlands, will bring together heads of state and other global leaders to raise global ambition on creating a climate-resilient future, focusing on vulnerable communities. At the summit, dozens of organizations will come together to highlight their commitments to empower local actors to adapt.

A growing movement of countries, international institutions and local groups recognize the need to put more resources into local hands for climate adaptation. But make no mistake: It will take hard work and serious changes in current practices to enact this shift.

As governments and international institutions look to recover from COVID-19, they have a chance to write a new social contract — one in which people at the local level have power and resources to make decisions that affect them. It’s time to chart a more equitable, resilient path, led by communities on the frontlines.

Time to depoliticize women’s access to health – Global Gag Rule risks to the global development agenda

PRESS RELEASE

GENEVA, April 6, 2017– The United States administration’s reinstatement of the “Global Gag Rule” in early 2017 undermines crucial funding to a broad range of sexual and reproductive health services and ends up risking advancement of the global development agenda. The US decision to deny future funding for actors like the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is a major concern, says global church-based network ACT Alliance.

The polarization over the political and practical support to sexual and reproductive health is likely to reduce access to health services and may end up risking lives. It is high time to depoliticize women’s access to health, says ACT Alliance.

The growing political divide over the goals of the global development agenda, less than two years after Agenda 2030 was endorsed by the United Nations member states, risks little progress being made on a number of Sustainable Development Goals.

Good health and well-being for all cannot be secured without adequate access to family planning, age-of-consent minimums, access to sexual and reproductive health care and context-appropriate comprehensive sexual education for all, says ACT Alliance.