Category: International Political Engagement

QUNO delivered an oral statement at the 43rd session of the UN’s Human Rights Council (HRC), recognizing the work of the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment showing how human rights are seriously affected by a degraded environment. QUNO’s statement, delivered by Programme Assistant Detmer Yens Kremer, encouraged the HRC to make “an historic contribution by adopting a resolution recognizing the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment,” and also emphasized that the time for action is now.

Lindsey Fielder Cook (Programme Representative Human Impacts of Climate Change, QUNO) has written an article summarizing and analyzing what happened during the COP25 in Madrid, Spain. She writes that “the COP25 was a sign of shifting pressures even in this tense geo-political environment. And this is important to note, since a COP is a reflection of national politics; essential work for progressive positions begins at home.” The article can be found here.

On December 3rd, Quaker United Nations Office and Quaker EarthCare Witness, together with Franciscans International, Brahma Kumaris, and World Council of Churches, hosted a side event at the COP25 in Madrid, Spain. This event was entitled “Inspiring Courage to Act and Adapt in a Climate Emergency”. The discussion was to explore ways to transform lives, communities, politics, and economics in our global efforts to mitigate, adapt, and foster resilience. The panel featured voices from state delegations, indigenous communities, faith-based organizations, science, and international organizations. The incomplete broadcast can be found here, and will be updated once technological issues are resolved.

At COP25 in Madrid an alliance of interfaith organizations released a statement highlighting the specific urgency and clarity faith voices bring to climate change. This statement covers an ambitious and essential range of standing in solidarity with those most affected by climate change, the need for a just and inclusive transition, and the necessity of rights-based approaches to climate change. It was signed by Britain Yearly Meeting and Quaker EarthCare Witness. You can watch the press conference itself here, and watch an additional press conference regarding Interfaith communities and climate change here. The statement itself can be accessed here.

As the disastrous consequences of climate change become increasingly apparent worldwide, it is important to address the way vulnerable groups are particularly impacted. During Geneva Peace Week, the Environmental Committee of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, with support from the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO), gave voice to experts on climate justice, vulnerable populations and decision makers working to include climate justice concerns in national and international policies through the event “Creating a Future for All: Climate Justice and Peacebuilding”. The event highlighted the importance of integrating gender in all aspects of climate change work and peacebuilding, the multiple ways climate change impacts peace internationally, and the necessity of public participation in all climate change and peace-building processes. 

QUNO, under the Friends World Committee for Consultation, is the only faith-based organization accredited as an observer to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which collates the most recent climate science findings to advise all countries. While government representatives cannot change the underlying scientific text in the reports, they can negotiate language in the Summary for Policy Makers (SPM), so long as the integrity of the findings is not affected. From the 19th to the 24th of September states gathered in Monaco to discuss a special report which focused on the state of the ocean and the cryosphere, which refers to places on earth where water is in solid form such as glaciers, permafrost, and ice sheets. This report was particularly significant as it explicitly discussed some of the processes already occurring due to climate change, such as coral bleaching, ocean acidification, and glacial melting, alongside future projections of further change.

Lindsey Fielder Cook, QUNO’s representative for the Human Impacts of Climate Change programme, made a number of interventions concerning adaptation limits, human impacts and permafrost melting, and worked with negotiators to ensure the rights language of public participation in climate policy was included.  This report contains significant urgency for it is speaking to what many are already experiencing, particularly those most vulnerable such as the inhabitants of Small Island Developing States and indigenous Arctic communities. The report highlighted the difference between urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – manageable change – and continuing with insufficient action – unimaginable and unmanageable change to glaciers,  biodiversity and marine life, and the ability of  access to drinking water for billions of people. the report urges international action.