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By Karin Achtelstetter, General Secretary, WACC About 4000 Indonesian islands are currently in danger of sinking and more than 20 million people were affected by last year’s floods in Pakistan.
These facts were highlighted in alarming reports presented at a seminar attended by members of WACC Asia Region in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 15-21 May 2011. It was held to discuss challenges and strategies around “Communicating Climate Justice.”
“For most of our local faith communities, climate justice is not a lens that we bring regularly to the reading of our sacred texts nor to our understanding of what it means to be faithful,” said WACC President Dennis Smith in his keynote address on May 16. “Often the struggle for climate justice takes place on the margins of our world, in those precarious communities most vulnerable to the droughts and floods spawned by climate change.
Smith continued, “But I am learning that the struggle for climate justice is also a struggle for the city. For the city is the seat of power. Power of the political systems that rule our nations, power of economic elites, power of the media systems that generate public policy agendas that foment the consumer society, that generate the imaginaries that nurture our dreams and expectations.”
WACC-Asia Secretary and expert on climate justice, Maria Theresa Lauron of the IBON Foundation (Philippines), cited an estimated 200 million climate-induced migrants by 2050. “Climate change is a justice issue. Climate crisis is a systemic crisis,” she told the more than 50 participants, comprised of WACC-Asia corporate and individual members as well as WACC project partners from Asia and the Pacific.
“A one degree rise in temperature means a ten percent decrease in food production,” noted Siddhartha from Pipal Tree (India), another WACC project partner.
“The WACC-Asia Region is committed to keeping the climate justice high on its agenda,” said WACC-Asia President, Samuel Meshack, who reminded participants that this year’s Asia Communication Sunday will focus on climate justice.
WACC maintains a watching brief on climate justice with a particular focus on the role of mass and community media. Information and resources can be found here: http://www.waccglobal.org/en/activities/climate-justice.html
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