Newsletter # 41
Dear ###USER_name###,
Greetings from the WCC Climate Change Programme.
This update includes:
An overview of the scientific data in the 4th Assessment Report (AR4) released in the past few months from the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the scientific body that advises the United Nations on climate change;
A brief report on a WCC/Christian Aid consultation held in April 2007 in London on climate change and development and a new report on climate change impacts on migration from Christian Aid;
Information on an ecumenical meeting on climate change held at the Vatican in April 2007.
NGO positions for the upcoming G8 Summit which will be chaired by Germany. Churches and ecumenical development agencies are active in the NGO coalitions.
News of three special envoys appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
New Scientific Evidence on Causes, Impacts and Mitigation of Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released three significant new studies as part of its Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). The IPCC consisting of hundreds of scientists from around the world analyses the most-recent peer-reviewed research on climate change and prepares reports that summarise the consensus of the vast majority of scientists working in the field. The "policy-makers summaries" are helpful overviews of the details in the AR4. All of the IPCC material can be accessed through: http://www.ipcc.ch/
The report of IPCC Working Group I released February 2nd, looked primarily at the physical science and concluded: Global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have increased markedly as a result of human activities since 1750 and now far exceed pre-industrial values determined from ice cores spanning many thousands of years. The global increases in carbon dioxide concentration are due primarily to fossil fuel use and land use change, while those of methane and nitrous oxide are primarily due to agriculture.
The WCC issued a special press release supporting the IPCC Working Group I report. See: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/all-news-english/display-single-english-news/browse/4/article/1634/wcc-welcomes-un-panel-rep.html
The IPCC Working Group II report analysed research on impacts, adaptation and vulnerabilities and was released April 6th. The WCC has had a long-standing concern about the impact of climate change on poor vulnerable peoples, communities and eco-systems. The IPCC Working Group II report provides further evidence to substantiate this concern:
Poor communities can be especially vulnerable, in particular those concentrated in high-risk areas. They tend to have more limited adaptive capacities, and are more dependent on climate-sensitive resources such as local water and food supplies. Where extreme weather events become more intense and/or more frequent, the economic and social costs of those events will increase, and these increases will be substantial in the areas most directly affected. Climate change impacts spread from directly impacted areas and sectors to other areas and sectors through extensive and complex linkages.
Projected climate change-related exposures are likely to affect the health status of millions of people, particularly those with low adaptive capacity, through:
- increases in malnutrition and consequent disorders, with implications for child growth and development;
- increased deaths, disease and injury due to heat waves, floods, storms, fires and droughts;
- the increased burden of diarrhoeal disease;
- the increased frequency of cardio-respiratory diseases due to higher concentrations of ground level ozone related to climate change; and,
- the altered spatial distribution of some infectious disease vectors.
By 2020, between 75 and 250 million people are projected to be exposed to an increase of water stress due to climate change. If coupled with increased demand, this will adversely affect livelihoods and exacerbate water-related problems.
Agricultural production, including access to food, in many African countries and regions is projected to be severely compromised by climate variability and change. The area suitable for agriculture, the length of growing seasons and yield potential, particularly along the margins of semi-arid and arid areas, are expected to decrease. This would further adversely affect food security and exacerbate malnutrition in the continent. In some countries, yields from rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by up to 50% by 2020. Local food supplies are projected to be negatively affected by decreasing fisheries resources in large lakes due to rising water temperatures, which may be exacerbated by continued over-fishing.
Towards the end of the 21st century, projected sea-level rise will affect low-lying coastal areas with large populations. The cost of adaptation could amount to at least 5-10% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Mangroves and coral reefs are projected to be further degraded, with additional consequences for fisheries and tourism.
New studies confirm that Africa is one of the most vulnerable continents to climate variability and change because of multiple stresses and low adaptive capacity. Some adaptation to current climate variability is taking place, however, this may be insufficient for future changes in climate.
Small islands, whether located in the tropics or higher latitudes, have characteristics which make them especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change, sea level rise and extreme events. Deterioration in coastal conditions, for example through erosion of beaches and coral bleaching, is expected to affect local resources, e.g., fisheries, and reduce the value of these destinations for tourism.
Sea-level rise is expected to exacerbate inundation, storm surge, erosion and other coastal hazards, thus threatening vital infrastructure, settlements and facilities that support the livelihood of island communities. Climate change is projected by the mid-century to reduce water resources in many small islands, e.g., in the Caribbean and Pacific, to the point where they become insufficient to meet demand during low rainfall periods. With higher temperatures, increased invasion by non-native species is expected to occur, particularly on middle and high-latitude islands.
The IPCC Working Group III report in AR4 focused on mitigation of climate change, that is, means of reducing the emissions that are causing it. While the IPCC does not deal with the difficult political questions that are the subject of inter-governmental negotiations, the AR4 does provide evidence that emission reduction is possible with many ancillary benefits.
There is substantial economic potential for the mitigation of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the coming decades that could offset the projected growth of global emissions or reduce emissions below current levels. Changes in lifestyle and behaviour patterns can contribute to climate change mitigation across all sectors. Management practices can also have a positive role.
While studies use different methodologies, in all analyzed world regions near-term health co-benefits from reduced air pollution as a result of actions to reduce GHG emissions can be substantial and may offset a substantial fraction of mitigation costs.
New energy infrastructure investments in developing countries, upgrades of energy infrastructure in industrialized countries, and policies that promote energy security, can, in many cases, create opportunities to achieve GHG emission reductions compared to baseline scenarios. Additional co-benefits are country specific but often include air pollution abatement, balance of trade improvement, provision of modern energy services to rural areas and employment.
In order to stabilize the concentration of GHGs in the atmosphere, emissions would need to peak and decline thereafter. The lower the stabilization level, the more quickly this peak and decline would need to occur. Mitigation efforts over the next two to three decades will have a large impact on opportunities to achieve lower stabilization levels.
The IPCC reports are essential scientific documentation for the reality of climate change that is and will occur, the range of impacts particularly on the most vulnerable and the potential to reduce the emissions causing climate change. As mentioned above, the documents and summaries are available at: http://www.ipcc.ch/
Churches develop common platform on climate change
Focusing on how to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to real change in the lives of communities through new forms of development, a 12-15 April 2007 WCC/Christian Aid consultation in London worked to determine elements of a common platform for churches' involvement in the annual major inter-governmental negotiating session on climate change, the Conference of the Parties (UNFCCC COP 13), being held this year in Bali Indonesia December 2-14, 2007.
For the WCC climate change working group, such elements, or benchmarks, relate, for example, to Northern societies' responsibilities in relation to climate change, and how Southern societies can pursue their legitimate development goals.
Consultation participants - representatives of church-related relief and development agencies - also discussed concrete projects to rehabilitate water resources on the slopes of Mt Kenya, churches' involvement in a huge scheme for rainwater harvesting in Brazil, or small projects for renewable energy in India and China.
Convinced that "You reach people's hearts and minds through music," the WCC climate change working group is inviting musicians to compose songs on climate change and earth community to accompany forthcoming activities, like an inter-faith event in Uppsala in November 2008 that will mark the 40th anniversary of the WCC's assembly there in 1968.
The common platform statement being prepared by participants at the consultation is intended for release in September 2007.
Christian Aid, the host of this consultation, has just released a new report, "Human tide: the real migration crisis" in which they predict that "at least one billion people will be forced from the homes between now and 2050 as the effects of climate change deepen an already burgeoning migration crisis." The full report is available at: http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/indepth/705caweekreport/index.htm
Vatican Study Seminar on Climate Change and Development
The President of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Renato Raffaele Cardinal Martino, invited WCC General-Secretary Sam Kobia to send two representatives from the World Council of Churches to the Study Seminar on Climate Change and Development April 26-27, 2007. Kobia designated Martin Robra and Elias Abramides to represent the WCC at the Seminar. Abramides was asked to speak on climate change and ecumenical collaboration.
Below is a report from Reuters News Agency about the event:
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April 29, 2007 Religion Must Help Protect Planet, Conference Says VATICAN CITY, 28 April (Reuters) - God wants believers to be green. That's the message emerging from a Vatican conference on climate change which was the latest sign of growing concern by religious groups around the world over the fate of the planet. Scientists, environment ministers and leaders of various religions from 20 countries sat down for two days to discuss the implications of global warming and development. While the scientists spoke of the dynamics of greenhouse gasses, temperature patterns, rain forests and exhaust emissions, the men and women of religion discussed the moral and theological aspects of protecting the environment. The conference, organised by the Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace, marked the most significant plunge to date by the Roman Catholic Church -- the world's largest Christian grouping -- into one of the hottest contemporary topics. "Climate change is one of the signs of the times affecting the Catholic Church as a global organisation. The Catholic Church must take a stand on this present-day and urgent question," said Bishop Bernd Uhl of Freiburg, Germany. In recent years, the world's major religions have gone more green in the race to save the planet, which they teach mankind has in stewardship and must protect for future generations. Over the past year, some evangelical Protestant churches in the United States -- strong conservative backers of President George W. Bush -- have broken ranks with the White House to call for urgent measures to protect the environment. National Catholic bishops conferences in some countries, including the United States and Australia, have issued statements or pastoral letters on climate change and the need to protect what most religions see as "the gift of creation". PAPAL ENCYCLICAL ON GLOBAL WARMING?Uhl said the time had come for an encyclical, the highest form of papal writing, on what he called "the future of creation". He said it would "energize" Catholics, other believers and world opinion on climate change. Bishop Christopher Toohey of Australia said believers should "have the courage and motivation under God's grace to do what we need to do to safeguard this garden planet". Elias Abramides, a Greek Orthodox member of the World Council of Churches (WCC), told the gathering climate change was a "deeply spiritual issue" rooted in the scriptures. "We believe that the solutions to the problem will not only be of a political, technological and economic nature. We believe that ethics and religion will necessarily become essential components on which the solutions will be based," he said. "As Christians ... we need to recognise and accept the intimate ethical and deeply religious implications of climate change. It is a matter of justice, it is a matter of equity, and it is a matter of love: love for God the Almighty, love for the neighbour, love for creation," Abramides said. The WCC groups some 550 million Christians from 340 non-Catholic Christian churches, denominations and fellowships. Story by Philip Pullella |
NGO Preparations for the G8 Summit in Germany
The upcoming G8 Summit will be chaired by Germany and climate change will be a high priority. Churches and ecumenical development agencies are active in the NGO coalitions. Below is the introduction to the NGO policy paper which could be useful in advocacy with industrialized countries' governments leading up to the summit.
Testing the credibility of the powerful: concrete action for environment and development!
Policy paper of international Non-Governmental Organisations for the G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, 6th - 8th June 2007
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The G8 Summits have been criticised for their resolutions not making any contribution to solving the Earth's central problems but, at worst, even aggravating them. At the next G8 Summit, to be held in Heiligendamm and chaired by Germany, the government representatives have the opportunity to counter this criticism. The G8 States will have to let themselves be measured against the yardstick of whether and how the round of powerful nations takes up today's political challenges, such as Africa's development and climate change.
Climate protection is one of the 21st century's key challenges that above all has to be taken up by the leading industrialised states - even more so since the recent and alarming UN reports on the status of climate change. So we welcome the decision to declare combating global warming and energy efficiency a focal issue of the German G8 Presidency. Climate protection also highlights the complexity of global phenomena. For there is a direct link between environmental destruction and poverty or underdevelopment. And nowhere else do these problems become as clearly visible as in Africa. The G8 play a major role in solving these problems. While they can move a lot politically, they can also create many obstacles or steer things in the wrong direction. In addition, the rapidly progressing loss of biological diversity represents a central world-wide challenge for international politics. So far, however, the G8 heads of states and governments have largely ignored it. Also, the important topic of debt in developing countries is missing at the G8 Summit. We call on the German Government to remedy the shortcomings regarding these two important topics and to fulfil its self-obligations. The globalisation of the world economy has to be designed sustainably. If you head policies with the motto |
The full NGO position paper for the G8 Summit is available at: http://www.g8-germany.info/english/G8_NGO_Policy_Paper_dtenglfinal.pdf
Ban Ki-moon names 3 prominent Special Envoys on Climate Change
UN News Service1 May 2007 - The first woman Prime Minister of Norway, the former President of Chile, and the President of the 56th Session of the United Nations General Assembly were today named Special Envoys for Climate Change by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has made the issues one of his top priorities. The three envoys named are also prominent in international environmental affairs, according to a statement released by Mr. Ban's spokesperson, Michele Montas. Norwegian ex-Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland is the former Chair of the World Commission of Environment and Development, which is best known for developing the broad political concept of sustainable development and two decades ago published a landmark report, "Our Common Future." President Ricardo Lagos Escobar of Chile founded the Foundation for Democracy and Development, which works for sustainable development. Since April 2006, he has been serving as president of the Club de Madrid where he led the organization to increase its involvement in environmental issues. Han Seung-soo, the former General Assembly President, currently heads the Korea Water Forum, which works towards sustainable water management in Asia. He served previously in numerous high-level government posts, including Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Minister of Trade and Industry, Chief of Staff to the President and Korean Ambassador to the United States. "The Secretary-General looks forward to working with these three highly respected international figures on a matter which is of highest importance to the future of the planet," Ms. Montas said. Reports issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) earlier this year show clearly that the warming of the earth's climate system is unequivocal and attributable to human activities, and will have severe economic effects, particularly in developing countries. In her statement, Ms. Montas noted that many initiatives are being launched by Member States, groups of States, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the private sector to try to mitigate climate change and its impact. "Very commendable as they are, these actions can only complement and not substitute for the comprehensive international response that is needed," she said. The Special Envoys will solicit the views of national leaders, including those who are key actors in the climate change negotiations. "The work of the Special Envoys will assist the Secretary-General in his consultations with Governments and other key stakeholders on how he might facilitate progress in the multilateral climate change negotiations within the UN," the spokesperson said. |
Dr. David G. Hallman,
Advisor, WCC Programme on Climate Change
E-mail: dhallman@sympatico.ca
