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                   WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES

        Office of Communication - Press and Information

              150 Route de Ferney, P.O. Box 2100
                  1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland

 Telephone: (022) 791 61 52/51        Telefax: (022) 798 13 46
                   E-mail:  JWN@WCC-COE.ORG

PRESS RELEASE		FOR IMMEDIATE USE		                15
JULY 1996

             NATURE IS A GIFT OF GOD SAY CHURCHES 
                     AT CLIMATE CONFERENCE

"The threat of climate change touches the religious mind in a
special way. It reminds us of our fundamental dependence upon
creation. Nature, we believe, is a gift of God. It must not and
cannot be dealt with as if it were our property."

This explanation of "why the churches get involved" in
discussions on climate change was offered by Rev. Sam Kobia from
Kenya to delegates at the second Session of the Conference of the
Parties (COP2) to the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change, currently taking place in Geneva.

COP2 is part of a UN process to draw up further agreements under
the Climate Change Convention encouraging industrialized nations
to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases after the year
2000; the WCC is urging delegates to make rapid progress to this
end.

Rev. Kobia, on behalf of the World Council of Churches (WCC),
made an official intervention to COP2 on Friday afternoon July
12.

Industrialized countries, he suggested, are often living in
"self-contradiction". For instance, we talk of equity and human
rights but "allow the gap between the powerful and the weak to
grow". As far as our attitude to nature is concerned, "We know
that risks are accumulating but we continue to behave as if we
were clearly capable of mastering them."

Such behaviour is destructive in the long run "not only in
economic and political terms but also for the human mind and
soul". Rev. Kobia stressed that COP2 has the capacity "to reduce
this self-contradiction at least in the field of climate change".

Another point the churches feel strongly about, said Rev. Kobia,
is participation. "Ordinary people need to be associated with
your discussions," since "the necessary measures will inevitably
call for considerable changes in over-consuming lifestyles".

The WCC is convinced that the mobilization of public opinion is
critical if the negotiations on climate change are to be
successful. This conviction prompted it to initiate a petition
campaign in industrialized countries to build public support for
a strong protocol. The campaign, launched earlier this year,
focuses on the need for governments to establish firm policy
measures and adopt a binding international agreement. By
September, petitions will be circulating in at least 15
countries, including most European nations, Canada, the US,
Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand.

The WCC is represented at COP2 by a delegation including Nafisa
D'Souza from India, Jesse Mugambi from Kenya, Lukas Vischer from
Switzerland, and David Hallman from Canada, who is Climate Change
Programme coordinator for the WCC. The WCC delegation was present
at a special worship service held at the Ecumenical Centre chapel
on Sunday 14 July.

The service began with a call to worship played on the p , a sea
shell from the Pacific, by a WCC staff member from Tahiti, John
Doom, and a response played on a Swiss alp horn. Hymns, prayers
and Bible readings emphasized the theme of caring for the
environment as part of God's covenant with God's people.

"How can people living in the industrialized nations renounce an
idolatrous way of life and rediscover true respect for God and
the Creation?" asked Geneva pastor Gilbert Tinembart in his
sermon. Tinembart heads a Swiss-Pacific Solidarity Group; the
example he gave was that of overuse of cars for individual
transport.

The service was attended by church and community groups from
Geneva and its surroundings, members of environmental groups,
representatives of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS),
government delegates to COP2 and UN officials. Two government
officials from Pacific island states - Terry Coe, vice-president
of Niue, and Ambassador Slade from Samoa - spoke to the assembled
guests. A small reception followed.

Contact:	Dr David Hallman, WCC Climate Change
ProgrammeCoordinator
		Phone: (+41.22) 791 61 15; 732.81.00 (Hotel)

                                                                      

The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now
330, in more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually
all Christian traditions.  The Roman Catholic Church is not a
member church but works cooperatively with the WCC.  The highest
governing body is the Assembly, which meets approximately every
seven years.  The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in
Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Its staff is headed by general secretary
Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.