wfn.org | WCC - "Honour Kyoto!" watchword for delegation at climate

["Sheila Mesa" <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

change conference

World Council of Churches
Feature, Feat-01-10
For Immediate Use
30 July 2001

"Honour Kyoto!" watchword for WCC delegation at climate change
conference

cf. WCC Press Release, PR-01-24, of 16 July 2001
cf. WCC Press Release, PR-01-14, of 15 June 2001
cf. WCC Press Update, Up-01-08, of 30 March 2001

"Honour Kyoto!" said the badge Bonnie Wright from Zimbabwe had
pinned to her jacket.  For Wright and other members of a World
Council of Churches' (WCC)  delegation to the 16-27 July climate
conference (Conference of the Parties, COP6  Part 2) in Bonn, the
slogan said it all; their biggest fear was possible collapse of
the Kyoto Protocol following President Bush's decision to take
the USA out of the agreement.  The Bonn conference was a
continuation of one held in The Hague in November last year.  

The document adopted by the Parties at the 1997 Kyoto Climate
Summit for the first time laid down binding measures and targets
for the reduction of CO2 emissions by industrialized states.  So
far, however, none of the major industrial nations has allowed
itself to be bound by these obligations; to date, 84 Parties have
signed the Protocol but only 37, mainly developing countries,
have ratified it.  

Like all the other non-governmental organizations in Bonn, the
WCC delegation - a core group of five people from Argentina, the
Netherlands, USA, Russia and Zimbabwe - was not admitted to the
official debates.  Contacts with official delegates in the
lobbies were their way of finding out about the state of the
negotiations and presenting the WCC's position.  

Negotiations about the compromise proposal put forward by COP
president Jan Pronk reached a crucial point on Sunday evening. 
Tension about the outcome was reflected in participants' faces. 
Nevertheless, Michael Grubb, a European Union representative,
found time for a long conversation with the WCC delegation. 
Grubb is a scientist and author of a book The Kyoto Protocol:  A
guide and assessment.  Larissa Skuratovskaya, a WCC delegation
member from Russia, had managed to arrange for this study to be
translated into Russian.  She was even able to persuade
Ambassador Raul Estrada-Oyuela from Argentina, an important
mediator in the climate conferences, to write a preface to it. 
Despite the tense atmosphere on Sunday evening, Estrada made time
during a break in the negotiations to receive a copy of the
Russian version from Larissa Skuratovskaya.   

Wrangling over the compromise came to a head on Monday 23 July. 
In the morning the WCC delegates met to consult.  They knew that
the government representatives had spent two nights discussing
the "Pronk paper" and that the decision about it was due that
day.  Fearing that the proposed compromise and hence the Kyoto
Protocol would fail, when at noon the government representatives
approved the compromise after all, a weight was lifted from their
hearts.  "I am really happy about this decision," said delegation
leader Elias Abramides from Argentina.  "It's the best that could
be hoped for under the circumstances.  Ratification of the Kyoto
Protocol is still not beyond the bounds of possibility."  

Wright was more sceptical:  "My heart goes out to the developing
countries.  I know they had to make many concessions.  This
compromise is a political victory, but it won't do much for the
environment.  For Africa it would have been important to have the
USA on board.  It is the world's biggest producer of CO2 and its
financial contributions to the fund for developing countries
would be very important."  But she too was happy that
international efforts for climate protection will continue even
without the USA.   

So she wholeheartedly congratulated Jan Pronk on his work when
she saw him at a social function the next evening.  But "Stay on
the alert!"  was his answer.  For the difficulties were by no
means over, and euphoria about the agreement soon evaporated. 
Although the environment ministers gave the Pronk paper the
go-ahead on Monday, it was not formally adopted by the delegates
until two days later - after long negotiations with Russia,
reluctant in the end to agree unconditionally.  

Time and again, the WCC delegates sensed that COP6 Part 2 was
not first and foremost about protecting the climate.  "When all's
said and done, it's always only about money," said Wright. 
Abramides saw a very important task for the WCC here: "We must
never stop repeating our message of ethics, justice and love." 
"If we didn't keep referring to the aspect of justice in these
negotiations, then I don't know who would," added Larissa
Skuratovskaya.  

William Somplatsky-Jarman, WCC delegate from the USA, believes
it is important to stress the good side of the Bonn agreement. 
"President Bush will certainly call it worthless.  So we have to
make people see what has been gained by it and why it is a good
and important document.  For example, the fact that nuclear
energy cannot be used as a measure to reduce CO2 is a great step
forward," he argued.  For Somplatsky-Jarman, the real work would
begin after Bonn.  "It is very important that we as the WCC stay
involved in the process.  The churches now have to work to make
sure the Kyoto Protocol actually becomes a reality," he said. 
The slogan "Honour Kyoto!" applies to them, too.  

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The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches,
now 342, 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, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general
secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

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