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By Mark Beach (*)

Church representatives from around the world will gather in New York City 15-20 November to press three issues within the agenda of the United Nations: peoples being displaced by climate change, indigenous people's rights and Colombia's protracted internal conflict.

As the United Nations hosts another round of preparatory climate change talks in Bangkok, faith leaders stress once more that religious values need to be voiced in the debate on how to address climate change.

On the eve of the 22 September United Nations Summit on Climate Change representatives of faith communities around the world called on world leaders and on "all people of Earth to accept the reality of the common danger we face, the imperative and responsibility for immediate and decisive action and the opportunity to change."

In a message for World Environment Day, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has stressed that "the care for and protection of Creation constitutes the responsibility of everyone on an individual and collective level."

In a statement to the plenary of high-level segment of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznań, Poland on Friday, 12 December, a delegation representing the World Council of Churches (WCC) will tell government representatives that a "much more principle-based approach is crucial for reaching an effective and equitable global climate policy regime built on the ethical imperatives of justice, equity and solidarity."

The myth according to which host countries are "victims" of migration needs to be challenged, as in fact their economies benefit from the exploitation of the migrants' work.

Extensive and quick reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in the wealthy parts of the world is one of the demands in the Uppsala Manifesto, which has been signed at a 27-30 November Interfaith Climate Summit in Uppsala, Sweden.Â

Radical changes and tangible commitments from world leaders are needed if an equitable and sustainable global economic system is to be built, says an ecumenical delegation attending a UN conference on financing for development starting tomorrow in Qatar.

After six days of intense discussions on migration, the conflict in Sri Lanka and climate change, of common prayer and practical efforts to make the voice of the churches on these issues heard at the United Nations, the UN Advocacy Week of the World Council of Churches (WCC) ended with good results on Friday.

At the 16-21 November United Nations Advocacy Week of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Christians from the Pacific islands have appealed for worldwide solidarity with regard to climate change, a question of life and death in their communities.

"As Christians, we are called to stand with those who are victims of oppression, poverty or violence," Rev. Elenora Giddings Ivory, director of the World Council of Churches (WCC) programme on Public Witness said in advance of the WCC's United Nations Advocacy Week, 16 to 21 November in New York.

By Jean Blaylock (*)

The World Council of Churches central committee issued a reminder on the pressing issue of climate change this week, urging member churches and others to "Be stewards of God's creation".

What are the implications of climate change for development in a world where years of development efforts are destroyed in a few seconds or hours by a hurricane or a single flood? This will be the subject of a 12-15 April 2007 consultation in London hosted by Christian Aid and sponsored by the World Council of Churches (WCC) Working Group on Climate Change.