WCC NEWS: Timid hope at end of climate negotiations in Cancun

[WCC media <noreply@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches - News

TIMID HOPE AT END OF CLIMATE NEGOTIATIONS IN CANCUN

For immediate release: 13 December 2010

The Cancun Agreement, adopted by the vast majority of parties at the
United Nations climate change conference (COP16) in the early morning
hours of 11 December, gives guarded hope to churches and civil society
groups who had called for decisive action by the world's governments. 
In
an improvement on the process that led to the much-criticized 
Copenhagen
Accord last year, the president of the conference managed to keep the
climate negotiations in the multilateral track and make some, although
insufficient, steps forward.

"Representatives of governments could not afford a failure like the 
one in
Copenhagen. The Cancun Agreement shows we are back on track. The 
demands
from the civil society and the churches have been heard. Now, we need 
to
continue advocating for a just, ambitious and binding treaty", 
affirmed Dr
Guillermo Kerber, programme executive on climate change for the World
Council of Churches (WCC). "The WCC will continue to work towards 
fair and
meaningful international action through the ecumenical Time for 
Climate
Justice (Link: 
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=10a8b8cc76d00f3f3c80 ) 
alliance
and as a partner in the Global Campaign for Climate Action (TckTckTck
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=b2cefddb212d3ce1996a 
))," he added.

The negotiations started in a very difficult atmosphere, when Japan 
said it
would not agree to a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol. 
The
Protocol was drawn up in Kyoto, Japan in 1997 to implement the United
Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change. It was the first 
global
legally binding contract to reduce greenhouse gases.

Some delegations at the Cancun talks, including negotiators for 
Russia and
the United States, continued to oppose the proposal to replace the 
Kyoto
Protocol with a more ambitious agreement. Major developing economies, 
like
Brazil, China and India, whose CO2 emissions are increasing, pointed 
out
steps they are taking to reduce the carbon intensity of their economic
output.

One important outcome of the Cancun meeting was the establishment of a
"climate fund" that will support especially the most vulnerable 
countries
as they seek to adapt to the worst consequences of climate change. 
For the
first three years, the World Bank was appointed as trustee of the 
fund –
a decision that has been strongly criticized by developing countries 
and
civil society representatives. However, developing countries will be
represented in significant number on the fund's board, ensuring that 
the
fund delivers what is needed.

The struggle for a binding international treaty continues. The UN 
climate
summit in Durban, South Africa, in December 2011 will probably be the 
last
opportunity to agree on a second commitment period for the Kyoto 
Protocol.

However, Japan and Russia, at least in Cancun, expressed they are not
willing to agree on new targets. An inevitable gap is therefore 
foreseen
between the first commitment period, ending at the end of 2011 and a
second one.

“The ecumenical delegation at COP16 in Cancun leaves this year happier
than it left from COP 15 in Copenhagen last year”, Kerber added.
Christian organizations such as Caritas, the WCC and the international
ecumenical aid group ACT Alliance joined efforts in lobbying, 
organizing
an inter-religious celebration and a side event. The ecumenical Time 
for
Climate Justice campaign was very visible on the premises where the
negotiations took place as well as during a protest march in the 
streets
of Cancun.

People from inside and outside the Christian community have raised the
question why churches are represented at the climate change 
negotiations.
In a joint declaration (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=31f0ae97d8cf0208a994 ), the 
delegations of the WCC
and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) to the COP16 explain that "The
core of churches' engagement is to remind the negotiators that beyond 
the
technical aspects of mitigation, adaptation, technology transfer and
funding, there is an ethical responsibility which ought not to be
overlooked."

The declaration continues that, with ethical principles often being
overlooked or ignored in the turmoil of negotiations, it is a "moral
obligation for the churches and faith communities" to call for 
justice and
to convey a message of hope.

As the negotiations concluded, the NASA (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=d7d42c28a9b22e1c2a70 ) 
revealed that 2010 is
set to be the hottest year since 1880, when the US National Oceanic 
and
Atmospheric Administration began recording climate data.

"In terms of debate, 2011 will be a hotter year as awareness raising 
and
advocacy continue over the year towards COP17 in Durban, where 
churches in
Africa have already started a process of preparation," said Kerber.

Full text of the WCC/LWF declaration (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=683a0801d35c128f6861 )

WCC press releases on the Cancun negotiations:
* Climate talks must not fail again says WCC (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=e1d0ddf0b736c399e899
) (10 December 2010)
* Faith communities stress moral dimension of climate change
(Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=7430b7b279e376977584
) (8 December 2010)
* Marching for climate justice on the streets of Cancun (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=0ac6b866da78f9148adb
) (7 December 2010)
* Care for endangered creation highlighted at Cancun inter-religious
celebration (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=602e729fef220ec7644e
) (7 December 2010)
* Church representatives in Cancun to call for moral decisions
(Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=10adce50325cf0ce3a89
) (24 November 2010)

More information on the WCC campaign for climate justice at
oikoumene.org/climate change (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=a053e9b6e66682a6d8ff )


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 Olav Fykse 
Tveit, 
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, 
Switzerland.



You receive this information as a subscriber of our media list. You 
are 
registered as Worldwide Faith News with the address 
wfn-editors@wfn.org.
Click here to unsubscribe or change your distribution settings 
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=c52d6eca824e3705dd91 ).