Nairobi, 9 June 2011
- More than 130 faith leaders, including
traditional leaders, mainly from Africa
but also from Northern Europe and Asia gathered
in Nairobi this week
to reflect on the position of faith groups
towards the environment and humanity, with
a particular emphasis on climate change
and its effects on Africa.
The event that represented
Muslims, Christians, Hindus, African traditional
leaders, Bahá'í and Buddhist
communities from 30 countries across Africa,
was co-organized by the Southern African
Faith Communities Environment Institute
(SAFCEI), the All Africa Churches Conference
(AACC) and the Programme for Christian-Muslim
Relations in Africa (PROCMURA) and the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) lent
its logistical support.
The objective of the
meeting was to prepare African religious
leaders for the upcoming UNFCCC climate
meeting (COP17) in December in Durban, South
Africa, and to do the following:
•Develop a common framework
for African Ecumenical action on climate
justice and sustainable peace in Africa;
•Mobilize faith based organizations to understand
and respond to climate justice and sustainable
peace in Africa;
•Strengthen faith leaders' competences in
climate justice and sustainable peace;
•Explore synergy with state and non-state
actors in joint advocacy efforts on climate
justice and sustainable peace in Africa;
•Present to the climate change negotiators
negotiators the essential moral principles
required to reach a fair and just climat
agreement.
The organizers convened
the meeting in time to plan concrete actions
with particular interest to get religious
and political leaders prepared for COP17
in order to make a significant step forward
in the direction of a legally binding agreement.
"In Durban,
African Faith Communities will have a tremendous
authority, legitimacy and power to bring
back to the climate negotiations a sense
of responsibility, and we in UNEP and the
UN family as a whole are ready to work with
you, to assist you and equally to draw on
you to assist us, to ensure that people
will not loose faith in their own ability
to make a difference," Achim Steiner,
UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive
Director told the meeting.
Africa has been highly
impacted by the adverse effects of climate
change: droughts, floods, shrinking of lakes
and the dying of corral reefs as well as
the depletion of the rain forests are sending
strong warnings that the world cannot continue
with its business as usual.
Climate change has serious
effects on the agricultural sector as well
as on the health of people. Conflicts over
scarce natural resources have led to human
migration into the cities. Parts of the
employment sectors are already feeling the
repercussions of climate change, such as
among fishing and pastoral communities.
The faith leaders gathered
in Nairobi called on world leaders to include
climate change into their socio-political
decisions. They want their voices heard
in Durban so that COP 17 becomes also a
peoples' COP and an African COP.
Increased awareness
of the causes and consequences of climate
change, adaptation and mitigation mechanisms
as well as an increased number of individuals,
churches, temples and mosques can make and
promote lifestyle changes and choices towards
responsible living by protecting the environment.
In his opening remarks
Bishop Davies from South Africa expressed
the feeling that politicians have failed
the people, and that COP 17 needs to set
the moral compass for the 21st centrury
with the help of the world climate cup dealing
with the future of life on planet.
"Many negotiators
will say they believe in justice and equity,
but when it comes to implementing it, it
comes to naught. Climate change is a huge
inequity for the planet, people, and Africa
which is suffering most with only 4% of
carbon emissions. With the declaration that
we will be preparing, we call on world leaders
to use principles and values in their negotiations.
All faith communities share this message
to return to ethical principles in the ordering
of our societies and the caring of our planet.
Africa can show the world that our relationships,
our care for one another is more important
than acquring material possessions,"
he said.
Kenya's Vice President
and Minister for Home Affairs, Kalonzo Musyoka,
adressed the inter-faith meeting with a
clear message that the world has indeed
no choice but to listen. He stressed that
Durban must adopt an agreement that will
take climate change a step forward and Africa
needs a just and equitable distribution
of the burden of climate change.
The two-day meeting
ended with a strong message to COP17 on
climate justice for sustainable peace in
Africa. Those attending underlined a commitment
and responsibility of the faith leaders
towards their communities and the world
to make the threats of climate change widely
understood.
At the end of the meeting,
participants came up with a declaration
which also carries a clear message to all
world leaders, for example, to abandon GDP
as an indicator of prosperity in favour
of indicators that include human wellbeing,
equality and the external environmental
costs of human economies. It also carries
several messages to Africa's political leaders
such as to regain a united voice and abandon
expedient allegiances with blocs that are
scrambling to appropriate Africa's natural
resources as well as to recognise in all
policy statements that our long-term social
and economic interests require the stability
of our biophysical environment today.
The declaration states
that: Every human generation is faced by
particular challenges and opportunities.
If we do not secure a stable climate for
the sake of future generations, we will
be held accountable by them and judged by
history. On this very critical issue of
climate change, we must not fail. Every
lost moment increases an irreversible threat
to life on Earth.
