QUAKERS & CLIMATE CHANGE WORLDWIDE
A portal for Quaker climate action across the globe
Through a monthly newsletter, New Zealand Friends share space, events, wisdom, and testimonies about the climate emergency, highlighting the ways that Friends can mobilize nationally and in community.
You can find inspiration in the following example newsletters here:
Quaker United Nations Office Geneva Human Impacts of Climate Change Programme attended the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) in Dubai in November and December 2023. At COP28, the main challenges included delivery of an urgent, equitable and science based Global Stocktake, strengthening on just transition and mitigation efforts, and appropriate financing for adaptation and loss and damage.
QUNO’s Human Impact of Climate Change programme, speaking on behalf of the Friends World Committee for Consultation, participated in the 60th Session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in Istanbul, Turkey.
At this session, the panel was tasked with crucial decisions on IPCC’s finances and its work for the 7th Assessment Cycle. QUNO submitted three interventions: advocating for the need to focus on the transformation of root causes rather than feeding unhealthy reliance on fossil fuels through research on geo-engineering; for research that upholds the rights and knowledge of Indigenous peoples; and the inclusion of military emissions in IPCC modeling and greenhouse gas emissions reporting.
QUNO’s specific interventions and a debrief analysis on the negotiations and results of the 60th Session are available for download.
The Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) in Geneva has just published an updated version of ‘How to be a Hero for All Our Children,’ which is available in English, Arabic, and Spanish. It aims to connect people with the most recent climate science and suggests personal actions and questions for politicians.
‘How to be a Hero for All Our Children’ has been updated with the most recent climate scientific findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report (AR6). This report was compiled over seven years and involved hundreds of scientists worldwide.
The updated ‘How to be a Hero for All Our Children’ is written for a wide audience, whether already active or new to climate concerns. It includes categories such as “What we eat”, “How we grow and sell food”, and “How we use and source energy.” This publication is meant to aid in our collective empowerment to transform the root causes driving planetary crisis.
This publication is accessible online and via a print-at-home version which can be used for personal distribution and campaigning.
The Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) in Geneva has just published an updated version ‘A Government Official’s Toolkit: Inspiring Urgent, Real, and Equitable Climate Action,’ which is available in English, Arabic, and Spanish. This publication is aimed at enhancing understanding and communication of climate change.
‘A Government Official’s Toolkit: Inspiring Urgent, Real, and Equitable Climate Action’ has been updated with the most recent scientific findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report (AR6). This report was compiled for just over seven years and involved hundreds of scientists worldwide.
The IPCC informs governments on what is happening, why, and what people can do to avert catastrophic climate change.
QUNO’s updated ‘A Government Official’s Toolkit’ aims to empower policymakers and climate advocates with the latest IPCC findings on root causes and urgent, feasible, and near-term options that are already available at scale to address climate change and improve well-being and planetary health. QUNO believes that everyone should have easy access to the science presented to our governments.
This publication is accessible online and via a print-at-home version, which can be used for personal distribution and campaigning.
The Australian Yearly Meeting Emergency & Species Extinction Working Group is holding online workshops with Quakers throughout Australia to shape the continued work on the Climate Action Plan. The Climate Action Plan was accepted by the Australian Yearly Meeting in July 2023 and calls on Australian Friends to take urgent action to stop the continued damage and harm done to the planet. These efforts include taking action; educating and mentoring; repairing relations with the Earth; reevaluating finances; mourning loss and instilling hope; repairing the Earth; and listening and supporting First Nations Peoples.
In preparation for the 2024 Yearly Meeting, the Working Group—with feedback from Australian Quakers—hopes to expand the action plan to include a witness and accountability process. You can learn more about this work here.
For the first time, COP28 will hold a thematic convening day around peace. QUNO Geneva, along with more than 60 institutions, participates in a collective of stakeholders passionate and determined to make climate change policy more aware of peace and conflict concerns.
Ahead of COP28 in Dubai, Peace@COP28 published a list of policy recommendations to encourage conflict-sensitive climate policies including mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from military and security forces and applying a conflict-sensitive lens to loss and damage funding arrangements. You can read the full list of policy recommendations here. You can learn more about Peace@COP28 and find upcoming events here.
The Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) has launched its report Storytelling from the Frontlines: Forefronting the voices of communities most affected by militarism and the climate crisis.
QCEA says that “through storytellers’ eyes” we see how militarization and securitized responses to the climate crisis negatively impact the natural environment that communities depend upon to thrive and survive. Its through such stories as well that we see how militarization hinders local efforts to tackle climate and environmental issues at the community level. The interviews that make up this report represent voices from people living in places as diverse as from Palestine to Guatemala, and from the Mariana Islands to Vietnam. To read the full report, click here.
Applications are now open for three programme assistant positions at the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO), in Geneva, Switzerland. The three programmes currently seeking assistants are Human Rights & Refugees, Peace & Disarmament, and the Human Impacts of Climate Change.
The programme assistant position is an exciting opportunity for young professionals who are interested in working in international affairs. The position provides individuals with the opportunity to learn about and contribute to Quaker work at the UN.
Open to Quakers and those in sympathy with Quaker values, QUNO is receiving applications from now until the 20th of April 2023.
For more information and to see the jobs’ full descriptions, click here.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a United Nations intergovernmental body that is mandated to provide “policy relevant but not policy prescriptive” information. From the 13-19th of March, the IPCC met in Interlaken, Switzerland, for the final approval session of the Summary for Policy Makers (SPM) for the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) Synthesis Report. IPCC reports are increasingly used by citizens worldwide to hold their governments accountable for sufficient climate action.
The Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) is the only active, independently accredited faith-based organization at the IPCC. Within the IPCC, Friends uphold transparency and the integrity of the latest climate science, as well as encourage clear messaging on urgent, transformative, and rights-based climate action. During the approval session, the Quaker United Nations Office, on behalf of the FWCC, made 24 interventions in total.
To read more about the IPCC process, access its reports, and see all 24 interventions, click here.
QUAKERS & CLIMATE CHANGE WORLDWIDE 