Christina Manning, Anglican Alliance’s Communications and Learning Manager, attended the action/2015 assembly in Johannesburg, South Africa, this week. The Anglican Alliance is joining the coalition of international civil society organisations to plan collaborative campaign activities for 2015 and to encourage local churches in taking local actions.
Launching on January 15th 2015, action/2015 will create momentum for a year of significant and historic change as a new global agenda for sustainable development is set in September 2015 and the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) deliver a global climate treaty in December 2015.
Introducing the assembly, the action/2015 reference group said:
“The intent is to mobilise citizen action globally and nationally. We know that the world is ‘off track’ on ending poverty. We also know that it doesn’t have to be this way. These problems can be fixed, but the change will only come when we act together, mobilise together, and ask world leaders to keep their big commitments. The marginalised and vulnerable need to be at the centre of this change.”
The Anglican Alliance will work with churches worldwide to engage global citizens in the action/2015 movement, highlighting the work of the church in fighting poverty and injustice and working with local groups to build a strong message from their own context. The Anglican Alliance believes that local priorities need to be heard and that working together we can help to make 2015 a significant turning point for every community.
Joining the OurVoices campaign, the Anglican Alliance is calling for a strong climate treaty: people of all faiths worldwide are urged to sign the petition and take part in vigils, prayers and campaign actions throughout the year. They will join faith groups worldwide to call on governments to sign a strong climate treaty when they meet in Paris in December next year. More information on how you can get involved is on our website and you can visit ourvoices.net to see more.
Action/2015 is combining these actions to bring hundreds of civil society organisations together and mobilise a mass movement of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of grassroots citizens. Together we can make sure that the voices of global citizens are heard by the UN and world leaders when the sustainable development goals are finalised in September next year, and that these leaders are continuously held to account on their promises towards 2030 when this new set of goals will expire.
Action/2015 members said, “These key events are opportunities for us to change the narrative on development and climate change. They won’t solve the problems but from this we will see a worldwide movement that can hold their governments to account. And we will see diverse movements come together in the fundamental belief that we are stronger this way.”
How can we be involved now?
On 7th December 2014 at 8pm local time, vigils are being held around the world to pray for and signal to world leaders that action on climate change needs to happen now. From 1st-12th December 2014 governments will be meeting in Lima, Peru, to discuss climate change negotiations and prepare towards the treaty in Paris next year. This is a pivotal moment for climate change negotiations and faith groups are lifting their moral voice and calling for action for the world’s most vulnerable people and for all creation. Let us know what you have planned!
What is the post-2015 development agenda?
The post-2015 agenda, which is also referred to as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), will be finalised when the United Nations meet in September next year. These goals follow on from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which have formed the focus for development initiatives since the year 2000 and provided a framework for country development.
With a new set of goals in 2015, world leaders need to build on the gains of the MDGs and address the gaps that were not prioritised in the last set of goals. The ‘World We Want’ and ‘My World’ campaigns have sought to bring the voices of people at the grassroots to the UN high-level panel that has been meeting regularly to discuss the post-2015 agenda. The Anglican Alliance participated in ‘My World’ to bring the priorities of Anglicans to the UN and to highlight the issues we need the new development agenda to address.
What is the UNFCCC?
The UNFCCC is an international climate treaty to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system. More news and information is available at http://newsroom.unfccc.int.
In the picture: a workshop session at the action/2015 assembly where participants discussed priority issues for the campaign next year and how best they could join and raise the voices of global civil society.
