Climate change
Nadi, FijiRecalling the urgency of the member churches of the PCC at the 9th General Assembly in Amercian Samoa for PCC to address the issue of climate change;
Mindful of the resolution that identified the resettlement of Pacific populations as a key priority for the Pacific churches;
Recalling the urgency for PCC to focus on Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands as key countries that are more vulnerable than others to sea level rise;
Mindful of the Minute of the WCC on climate change at the last Central Committee;
The Pacific Conference of Churches convened the Pacific Church Leaders Meeting (PCL 09) from the 20-24 April 2009 in Suva, Fiji.
The objectives of this high profile meeting of the church leaders were:
1. to have a clear theological basis and platform as to why the churches are addressing resettlement;
2. to respond to the urgency of the matter through the establishment of a process driven framework that would allow for contributions from the WCC working group on climate change as well as all other actors and partners of PCC;
3. that this process will aim at 2012 at the 10th PCC Assembly as a point of reference to further determine the next important steps to engage the churches in a political dialogue on the resettlement of Pacific peoples
The Moana Declaration was adopted at the end of the consultation:
Pacific Church Leaders Meeting Statement on Resettlement as a direct consequence of climate induced calamities
Our Oikos – a new consciousness on climate change and our call to action
“Moana Declaration”
Tanoa International Hotel, 24 April 2009
On the occasion of the Church Leaders Meeting on Resettlement as a direct consequence of climate induced calamities, Pacific Church Leaders issue the following statement on climate change and the imminent threat of forced relocation and displacement faced by Pacific peoples.
Mindful of the impacts on food and water security; our way of life; our culture; our community; our overall health and well being; the ecological systems on which we depend; other creatures with whom we share Gods creation;
Led by our faith traditions and the life of Jesus Christ, we stand on behalf of the poor, those who have little power and with those throughout history who have acted for justice,
We the Church Leaders from Pacific Island Countries (PICs) present at this meeting call upon the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), affected states and the international community of states to:
1. Ensure that all persons and communities affected by climate induced catastrophes in the Pacific as well as other affected world regions, in particular those who are forced to flee their homes and lands, are afforded the respect and protection of the full spectrum of rights enshrined within the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and subsequent human rights treaties;
2. Develop local, national, sub-regional, regional and international plans to ensure respect for and protection of the rights of forced climate migrants;
3. Develop the framework for a new Convention or Protocol on Resettlement to cater for the specific and unique situation of persons, communities and states affected by climatic induced catastrophes.
4. Undertake immediate measures to identify available land and other appropriate resources for the purposes of relocating and resettling all forced climate migrants, both those displaced internally as well as those likely to seek resettlement in other countries;
5. Carry out intensive public consultations with Pacific communities affected and will be affected by rising sea levels or other consequences of climate change, with a view to developing viable and practical plans to protect the rights of forced climate migrants, in particular their housing, land and property and related rights;
6. Develop in a proactive way, in full partnership, cooperation and consultation with vulnerable people and communities affected by climate, policies, strategies and practical programmes that mitigate the worst effects and consequences of climate change on affected populations, and enable and empower such populations to adapt to changing environmental factors;
7. Devote, where mitigation and adaptation responses are likely to be insufficient per se, adequate resources, in particular financial resources, to practical measures designed to assist forced climate migrants to relocate and resettle in a manner consistent with their rights and in ways that secure for them an adequate standard of living and sustainable livelihoods;
8. Explore creative and innovative methods of identifying long-term relocation and resettlement options for forced climate migrants, consistent with their housing, land, property and related rights, whilst preserving their dignity as human beings;
9. Develop and support projects that demonstrate an alternative economic model reflecting faith based values of: justice, equity, and sustainability – in challenge to the values inherent in the neo-liberal economic model dominant in the world today;
10. Ensure the rights of other populations affected by the forced displacement of climate change migrants, such as host or receiving communities in areas where climate change migrants are settled, are fully and adequately protected;
11. Call on the peoples of the Pacific and the international community of states, to act toward exhausting all avenues available toward the realization of the critical issues in this Moana Declaration;
12: Reaffirm the prophetic role of the church and its responsibility to recognize and speak out against the injustices wrought on by climate change and call on all persons, communities and states to act now.
24 April 2009
Nadi, Fiji.
