“Do you know what we want? We want justice—oceans of it. We want fairness—rivers of it. That’s what we want. That’s all we want.” Amos 5:24 (The Message)
With just one month to go until the group of 20 (G20) richest nations gather in Brisbane, Australia, the Anglican Alliance are putting out a final call for signatures on the Oceans of Justice petition.
The deadline for signatures is Friday 31st October 2014.
Almost 3000 people have already signed in agreement with the call from Pacific Islanders, which demands action on climate change from the world’s leaders.
Unfortunately climate change is happening right now, and it is affecting the world’s most vulnerable with the most devastating consequences.
In the Pacific, Australia’s neighbourhood, rising oceans are poisoning agricultural land, washing away homes, and forcing people to abandon islands that their people have lived on for thousands of years.
Despite this, the Australian Government has refused to add climate change as an urgent agenda item for the G20 meeting in Brisbane in November this year.
We are joining those most affected by climate change in the Pacific, and worldwide, to call on the Australian Government to show global leadership and add climate change to the G20 agenda. We need them to commit to strong action to slow down climate change and help those who are already being impacted by its effects.
You can sign the Oceans of Justice petition here.
By signing you will be taking action on climate change and food security and speaking up with the most vulnerable people, including those facing rising waters in the Pacific Ocean.
As the Anglican Alliance we stand with local churches across the globe – churches and communities who want their voices to be heard by world leaders so that governments make decisions to stop climate change and respond to the impact.
In partnership with Anglican churches in the Pacific, Anglican Board of Mission and Anglican Overseas Aid in Australia, we are petitioning the leaders of the 20 richest nations to make sure climate change is on the agenda when they meet at the G20 Summit in Brisbane in November 2014.
We are adding our voices to the call of the wider civil society group (C20) that petitioned the Australian Government to ensure that climate change is part of the G20 agenda. You can see the final communiqué from the C20 here.
Events led by Anglican churches in the Pacific will take place in November 2014 to highlight our call for climate justice, and the petition will be presented to ministerial representatives.
Together we can send a message from the global Anglican family that action on climate change is urgent and required now and cannot be delayed.
Pictured above: a family takes shelter from a king tide, which often flood islands in the Pacific.
Pictured below:
1. Families in Uganda appealed for aid when floods displaced 7000 people in 2013
2. Flooding in Northern Brazil destroyed communities in 2014
3. Typhoon Haiyan killed more than 6000 people when it struck the Philippines in 2013
4. Homes are washed away in the Pacific by rising sea levels.
1. 2.
3. 4.