“Our Spiritual Imperative for the Earth”
Multi-Faith Charter for COP23
A deep spirituality permeates the communities
of the Pacific and is at the heart of the Pacific people’s relationship with
each other and the environment.
Spirituality is integral to the way we interpret, understand and
interact with one another, and with the natural world. This spirituality is enhanced by
(Christianity and) the many faith traditions of the world which have grown
roots in our diverse Pacific communities. These faith traditions are shared
with the vast majority of those who share this planet.
Acknowledging and embracing the significance
and centrality of such life-affirming spirituality has the potential
to not only underpin the negotiations of COP23 but mobilize billions of
like-hearted people as allies in the challenge to address Climate Change,
providing an important catalyst for grass roots action.
As the nations of the world gather for COP23
under the presidency of Fiji, it is our common hope and constant
prayer, as people of faith, that the reflections and discernment and life-affirming
responses of such spirituality remain as critically important as scientific and
political conversations in the decision-making processes during COP23.
As people of faith, people with spirituality:
We strongly express our deep concern
over the warming climate that threatens the Earth and especially our vulnerable
sea of islands, which we hold in trust. Our care for this Earth is our legacy
for our children; we are therefore responsible as stewards of Mother Earth to
keep it well.
We acknowledge that humanity has been
entrusted with the stewardship of this planet, her trees, gardens, rivers,
oceans and all the living creatures that depend on her nurture.
We acknowledge that the scientific
community’s consensus that climate change is caused by human activity is a call
to action for all the nations of the earth.
We confess that we have been poor
stewards and that our gluttonous and unsustainable lifestyles have led to the
impacts we see today - climate change and massive loss of species – fish, coral, wild creatures, jungles, forests and clean water sources.
As custodians of this great planet, it
is our spiritual, moral and ethical responsibility to collectively take urgent
action to do all that is possible to combat climate change and save our planet
and humanity.
The solutions lie
in our hands through the traditional, scientific and technical knowledge we
have amassed.
We must sacrifice our current self-centered
attitude, unsustainable habits and consumption patterns. We must now find and
keep within us the will to do what is right and just, the foresight to forgo
immediate gains for the greater good, and the hope that we can pass on to our
children a better world than we inherited.
We commit to work within our faith
communities to encourage our people to take all actions necessary to consume
resources responsibly, protect the world’s biodiversity and help reduce carbon
emissions.
We believe that individual commitment
to this task in our daily lives is essential. We will also encourage the
faithful—and all people—to press their leaders for action at the international,
regional and local levels to curb carbon emissions, to build community adaptation
and resilience to impacts of climate change and adopt policies that will educate
and encourage each individual to do his or her part.
It cannot be denied that there is an
urgent moral and spiritual imperative to act decisively now.
Our people need assurance of a safer
and sustainable future for themselves and their children. We strongly call on all political leaders to
renew and intensify their commitments to act and, where necessary, show the
courage that leadership demands. Specifically, we reaffirm the interfaith
statement made in Morocco at COP22.
We:
· Urgently ask States to take bold action to rapidly
reduce emissions, in line with the 1.5°C goal;
·
Seek an effective
Facilitative Dialogue that delivers:
o greater pre-2020 ambition
o improved NDC post-2020 emission reduction
targets
o speeding the advance to low-carbon economies
o increased and innovative public and private
finance to enable achievement of the 1.5C target
·
Urge the global
community to support through sustainable financing, capacity building and
technology transfer for ecosystem-based approaches to climate change adaptation
and mitigation, and disaster risk reduction as cost effective tools for all small island
developing nations
And we invite and encourage all men
and women and groups of good will to endorse this statement by affixing their
names at http://www.etc.
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