wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Asia-Pacific: Climate change driven resettlement on church agenda

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches - News Release

Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 11/11/2009 16:49:45

RESETTLEMENT DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE ON ASIA-PACIFIC CHURCH

>AGENDA

Resettlement of people displaced by the consequences of climate
change was highlighted as a major concern for churches at a
gathering of ecumenical representatives from Asia and the Pacific
region. 

According to scientific estimates (

http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/Executive_Summary.pdf ), by
2050 as many as 200 million people may become permanently
displaced by the effects of climate change, including rising sea
levels, heavier floods, and more intense droughts. South East
Asia, small Caribbean and Pacific islands and large coastal
cities will be amongst the more affected. 

Meeting 2-6 November in Chiang Mai, Thailand, some 75 ecumenical
representatives committed themselves to "support Oceania
churches' initiatives and advocacy efforts on resettlement plans,
adaptation and reparations to small island states", which have
been "rendered victims by ecological and climate change". 

The Chiang Mai Declaration ( http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=7285
)issued by the ecumenical gathering emphasizes the need to
develop "the framework for a new Convention or Protocol on
Resettlement to cater for forced ecological migrants", and
concrete plans "to ensure respect for and protection of the
rights of forced climate migrants". 

Participants at the Consultation on Poverty, Wealth and Ecology
in Asia and the Pacific were welcomed by Chiang Mai governor Mr.
Amornpan Nimanan. The event was organized by the World Council of
Churches (WCC), the Christian Conference of Asia and the Pacific
Conference of Churches. 

The consultation is part of the WCC AGAPE (

http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3117 )(Alternative to Economic
Globalization Addressing Peoples and Earth) process. It was
preceded by hearings of youth, women and indigenous peoples. 

Asia, whose vulnerability to extreme weather events is
aggravated by poverty, showcases the links between poverty,
wealth and ecology, according to a report presented at the
consultation by the IBON Foundation ( http://info.ibon.org/ ), a
think-tank based in the Philippines. 

The report describes a context of grave ecological and economic
crisis. More than half of the Third World's poor live in Asia.
Even though it is generally viewed as a dynamic and promising
place to invest, Asia is struggling with extreme poverty, thus
reducing the capacity of Asians to cope with climate changes. 

Impoverishment, greed and violence: outcomes of a spiritual
crisis

"Our region's wealth is being siphoned off in the form of
corporate profits squeezed from cheap, predominantly female,
labour; external debt payments to international financial
institutions made at the expense of massive cuts in social
expenditures; the privatization and commodification of land; and
exports of people, lumber and other 'raw materials' from poor to
wealthier nations", the Chiang Mai Declaration says.

"We listened with heavy hearts to stories of: Burmese migrant
workers fleeing political and economic oppression only to
encounter other forms of oppression in Thailand; tens of
thousands of farmer suicides in India; Asian students falling
into debt because of spiralling tuition fees; women in the Mekong
region trafficked into prostitution", participants stated in the
declaration. 

"Poverty is the result of exploitation and monopoly, and
exploitation is coupled with violence", said Jonathan Sta. Rosa,
a young participant from the Philippines, describing how economic
globalization impacts poor people in his country. Jonathan's
brother Isaias, a United Methodist pastor and a member of a
peasant's movement, was killed in 2006 in one of thousands of
extrajudicial killings taking place in Philippines. 

"In Asia and the Pacific, neoliberal globalization has taken a
stronger hold in urban centres especially with the young people.
The pressure to consume, to own and to conform is enormous", said
Liza Lamis, a communications consultant with the CCA. 

"The interlinked economic and ecological crises are
manifestations of a larger ethical, moral and spiritual crisis",
said participants at the Chiang Mai gathering. Therefore what is
needed is "nothing less than a radical spiritual renewal […]
founded on the Biblical imperatives of God's preferential option
for the marginalized (justice) and the sacredness of all Creation
(sustainability)". 

As "genuine faith and spirituality entail action", the Chiang
Mai Declaration calls for "radical and collective responses, not
only from Asia and Oceania, but also from the worldwide faith
community". 

>Full text of the Chiang Mai Declaration
>http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=7285

WCC work on Poverty, wealth and ecology: impact of economic
globalization
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3117

>WCC work on climate change:
>http://www.oikoumene.org/climatechange

Christian Conference of Asia

http://www.cca.org.hk ( http://www.cca.org.hk/ )

Pacific Conference of Churches

http://www.pcc.org.fj ( http://www.pcc.org.fj/ )

Additional information:Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507
6363media@wcc-coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,
witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical
fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings
together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches
representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110
countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic
Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from
the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.