After Copenhagen

No genuinely meaningful emissions targets. Inadequate funding for people in poor countries. Copenhagen failed to deliver.  2010 is the new target for climate justice. Please join us in keeping pressure on John Key and other world leaders. More campaign actions will be coming soon.

 

From the talks

• Check out daily updates from Christian Aid, CWS's UK partner and DanChurchAid blog direct from Copenhagen.
• See ACT International news from the UN Climate Change Conference below

Heart felt plea from the Pacific

"We want to survive!"
During a special World Council of Churches event in Copenhagen, the
president of the Congregational Christian Church of Tuvalu, Rev. Tofiga
Falani, explained that in his country, a Polynesian island nation made
up of eight coral atolls, there is no place higher than four feet (1.2
metres) above sea level. He pleaded to rich countries to be heedful of
the consequences of their development for thousands of people living on
those low-lying atolls. "We want to survive!" Falani said.

 

 

A Prayer for the Copenhagen Summit

Loving God
It is poor people who suffer most when the waters rise and the desert scatters,
It is the land that disappears as trees are chopped down and cities spread.
It is the animals who die because their homes are destroyed and food sources scarce.

We ask your forgiveness.

We pray for all those meeting in Copenhagen that they might make wise decisions for a better future.

A future where pollution is reduced, the planet’s wealth shared more
fairly and the Earth is restored to reflect your original loving
intention

We pray in the name of the Peacemaker and Lifegiver.
Amen

 

ACT in Copenhagen: Thousands Demonstrate for Change

15/ 12/09
Thousands of demonstrators might not change the views
and decisions of politicians but the weekend’s peaceful climate
demonstration in Copenhagen at least made people come together with a
common vision for a better world.
The first week of COP15 talks was all about trying to understand the
disputes between rich and poor countries, bearing in mind the need for
a common solution. In the thick of discussions were hundreds of NGO
representatives – many of them ACT members.  At the weekend, the volume
was turned up as ACT partners joined around 100,000 campaigners from
around the globe on a four-mile march through the streets of Copenhagen
pausing along the way for ceremonies and events.
On Saturday thousands of people demonstrated. Of them, more than 1500
reinterated the demands by Countdown to Copenhagen, a group of
development agencies from across the world joining forces to create a
truly global voice for change. Many of Countdown organisations are part
of ACT International.
On the long and cold journey, supporters marched side by side with
thousands of Countdown campaigners from across globe. At the
destination outside the UN conference centre, a candle-lit vigil took
place.
“Time for Climate Justice” was seen on many placards but in different
languages – Amarinja, Arabic, Swahili and French just to name a few.
Ethiopians sang and danced at the centre of Copenhagen. People dressed
in costume – and suddenly Copenhagen literally turned into an
international city.
“It is a fantastic experience to be a part of this, all of us wanting
the same thing,” Bishop Thomas Söderberg of ACT member Church of Sweden
said. “All of us are ready to be ambassadors for the decisions needed
to be made, at any time.”

Without doubt this was the people’s demonstration.  An expression of
people’s will for a fair deal, their need to challenge the ongoing
negotiations. At the end of the day it was all about the generations to
come, and those whose voices are seldom heard in high-level
negotiations.
Symbols of change
Bleached dead coral from the Pacific Ocean – symbolising rising sea
temperatures and dying ocean worlds. Dried up maize from Africa –
symbolising failed crops, human hunger and suffering. Uncovered glacier
stone from Greenland – symbolising melting polar worlds and loss of
life-giving mountain water sources.  Three climate change reminders
from three regions of the world were presented at the Sunday service in
the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen, the service in itself a symbol of
a common struggle against climate change.

A candlelight procession was a graphic conclusion to the service,
supported by a global bell-ringing for creation and the climate. Church
bells throughout the world rang 350 times – referring to the maximum
level of CO2 emissions that the International Panel on Climate Change
says is acceptable.

“We have a common responsibility to solve the problem,” said former
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who presented a symbolic clock to Yvo de Boer,
executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change,
on behalf of Countdown to Copenhagen. The clock announced the nearly
513,000 signatures collected by Countdown from people in more than 20
countries.
“Don't give us a political agreement; give us a legally binding
agreement. This is one problem where if we don't resolve it, no one is
going to survive. We will either all be winners, or all losers,”
Desmond Tutu said.
“People are having to pay for something they didn't cause. Thousands of
people around the world are dying as a result of poverty caused by
emissions coming from rich countries.”
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND — By Thomas Ekelund/Ewa Röllgårdh

 

TALKS OPEN WITH WARNING

The first day of talks opened with Danish Prime Minister Loekke
Rasmussen saying the summit was one the world could not afford to
miss.  To discuss emissions targets and financial measures to combat
climate change.

The BBC reported that a number of African delegations are backing
the argument made by small island states that 2degC will bring major
impacts to their countries.   This would be a huge obstacle, because
none of the industrialised countries have put forward emission cuts in
the range that would be required to meet a 1.5degC target.  The African
Union has said industrialised countries must help poor ones pay for the
transition to cleaner economies - and has threatened to walk out of the
talks if it does not get what it wants.

 

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Among the main events, ACT member Norwegian Church Aid is sailing a
cruise liner from Oslo to Copenhagen on December 12. Close to 2000
politicians, church leader, scientists and activists will be aboard and
will occupy the 16 hour crossing with discussions, debates and
performances. During the stay in Copenhagen the "climate sailors" will
take part in planned activities.

On December 15, a series of combined events run by the UN and NGOs
will draw attention to the human impact of climate change and that
urgent action is needed.  The day will feature a host of children
voicing their concerns for the future, and hold adults to account for
the state of the planet, debates and discussions and press conferences
on adaptation and displacement.  

DAN CHURCH AID’S TOP FIVE EVENTS

From the high security summit in the Bella Center to activist
happenings on the streets - COP15 takes place all over Copenhagen.  ACT
member DanChurchAid recommends a number of public access events in
Copenhagen during the climate summit:

December 7-18: Climate Forum ’09
The alternative climate summit with lectures, open debates,
exhibitions, and the chance to meet people from Africa, Asia and Latin
America experiencing climate change. Climate Forum 09 is the civil
society counterpart of the official UN conference in the Bella Center.
Countdown to Copenhagen, the international climate justice campaign
will be present. ACT will have a stand at the forum.

December 10 and 11:  Climate Refugee Camp.  DanChurchAid activists
focus on the first victims of climate change by building a camp for
climate refugees at a central square in Copenhagen.  Activities, a
speakers’ corner and a lounge with DJs playing world music are
highlighted. 

December 12: Demonstration ”Planet First – People First”, a peaceful
demonstration for a fair and serious climate deal.  Countdown to
Copenhagen group sets off from Frue Plads at 12h30. First stop is the
Danish Parliament at Christiansborg, where it joins the other
demonstrations.

December 13: Former Archbishop Desmond Tutu hands over 250,000
signatures from the international campaign Countdown to Copenhagen, led
by APRODEV and the World Council of Churches, to the UN’s top climate
change official, Yvo de Boer.  This is followed by a free concert.  
From 14h00, an ecumenical service will be held at the Vor Frue church. 
Copenhagen’s Cathedral will be full of church leaders, political
leaders, NGOs and even royalty, when Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan
Williams delivers his sermon.  The service focuses on the churches
involvement in fighting climate change.  It will be screened on Danish
television.

That day, churches around the world, starting in New Zealand and the
Pacific Islands, will ring church bells 350 times to represent the call
to cap emissions.  In Denmark, the bells begin tolling at 15h00.

 

Background to the talks

International efforts on climate change are focused on making a strong commitment at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, 7-18 December.

The successor to the Kyoto Protocol – which expires in 2012 – will be negotiated at this meeting. It will set the framework for global action on climate change for the next decade and beyond. Campaigners warn it is the last chance to keep global temperature rises below 2°C.

CWS is supporting an agreement that will ensure a fair and effective deal for the world's poorest people. 

 

The four key issues that need to be addressed are:

• emission reduction targets that industrialised countries will commit to. CWS supports calls for a 40% reduction by 2020.
• substantive new funding to assist developing countries adapt to the changing climate.
• financing to help the developing world reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop using clean technology.
• ensuring developing countries are equal partners in the decision making process.

New Zealand will be represented at the conference.

Sign a CWS clean up the climate postcard asking our government to support a just international deal on climate change.

Find out more about the international negotiating process on climate change