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Ms. Frances Namoumou, from the Pacific Conference of Churches, reader of the Interfaith Statement to COP23. ©Marcelo Schneider/WCC

Ms. Frances Namoumou, from the Pacific Conference of Churches, reader of the Interfaith Statement to COP23. ©Marcelo Schneider/WCC

“It is our moral and ethical responsibility to take collective and immediate actions to address climate change and to safeguard life on our planet”, read the interfaith statement delivered by the World Council of Churches (WCC) to the plenary of COP23 on 16 November.

Entitled “To Bonn and Beyond: Act Now with Justice and Peace”, the statement was read by Frances Namoumou, representing the WCC and the Pacific Conference of Churches, to the plenary of the High Level Ministerial Segment of the 23rd Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP23), in Bonn, Germany, where the United Nations Climate Change Conference is taking place under the presidency of Fiji.

The text emphasizes the urgent situation of the people in the Pacific, stating that it is “a matter of justice that wealthy nations responsible for the bulk of global emissions provide financial and other forms of support to income-poor, vulnerable countries, enabling the latter to adapt and build resilience to a warming climate as well as compensating for loss and damage”.

“Loss and damage must be minimised if not prevented in the first place. This means that we have to keep global temperature increase to not more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels”, reads the statement.

The statement concludes with a call for COP 23 to “increase nationally determined contributions to meet the target of 1.5 degrees Celsius warming above pre-industrial levels; ensure the transfer of financial and other resources to small island states and other poor, vulnerable countries as funding for adaptation and resilience-building and as compensation for loss and damage; and deliver concrete action on loss and damage by further developing the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage”.

Links:

Download the full statement

YouTube video: "WCC member churches from the Pacific at COP23: "We are not drowning, we are fighting"

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