wfn.org | WCC delegation at Marrakesh

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

World Council of Churches
Update, Up-01-38
For Immediate Use
9 November 2001

WCC delegation at Marrakesh
Climate change negotiations: No solidarity for people and
nature

cf. WCC Press Release, PR-01-39, of 26 October 2001
cf. WCC Press Feature, Feat-01-19, of 9 November 2001

As the negotiations at the 7th Conference of the Parties to the
UN Convention on Climate Change in Marrakesh (COP7) draw to an
end, the delegation of the World Council of Churches (WCC) is
sceptical about the possible outcome. "More and more we see that
nature and the poor do not have a voice in the political
negotiations," says Elias Crisostomo Abramides from Argentina,
head of the WCC delegation. "The rich countries which are already
doing little to combat climate change want to do even less. What
worries us is that there is no solidarity, either for people or
for nature."  

"The discussions on technical matters, already agreed at the
last meeting in Bonn in July this year, proved to be very
difficult and tough in Marrakesh. Some countries, such as Russia,
are not satisfied with what they got and keep on negotiating,
thus delaying the final decisions that have to be made by the
ministers today", says Abramides.  

Despite this criticism, Abramides is still optimistic that there
is a "decent chance of getting an agreement". "Sadly, the
commitments in this agreement will in effect only reduce
greenhouse gases by one third of the amount originally agreed in
the Kyoto Protocol."  

WCC delegation member Nafisa Goga D Souza from India worries
that the developing countries are being left behind: "As efforts
are made to save the Bonn Agreement and the Kyoto Protocol,
issues of equity have taken a back seat."   

Abramides, speaking on behalf of the WCC, expressed these
concerns to the conference plenary on Thursday, 8 November.  His
statement supported the call of Indigenous Peoples for a separate
working group at future climate change negotiations.  Abramides
also emphasized that religions have a significant role to play in
modern societies: "They have to promote care for the earth and
establish a language of the heart and of the spirit which will
surely have a great influence on the climate change
negotiations."   

For further information, please contact Karin Achtelstetter,
Media Relations Officer           Tel:  (+41.22) 791.61.53,
Mobile:  (+41) 79.284.52.12

**********
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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