02.11.2004
LWF Commends Russian Vote on Kyoto Protocol, Urges USA, Australia to Review their Position
General Secretary Noko Affirms LWF’s Commitment to Preserve the Integrity of CreationGENEVA, 2 November 2004 (LWI) – The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has commended the recent vote by the Russian Duma in favor of the international treaty on the reduction of greenhouse gases, and appealed to the governments of industrialized countries that have not ratified the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to review their positions.
In a statement released today, LWF General Secretary, Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, expresses hope that the action of Russia’s lower house of parliament would be swiftly affirmed by the legislative body’s upper house and by President Vladimir Putin. The general secretary particularly appeals to the United States of America and Australia, which are among leading greenhouse gas producers, to revise their positions and “ratify this modest start in the global response to climate change.”
The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has been ratified by more than 120 countries, but needs Russia’s ratification before it can become a legally binding document. The USA pulled out of the treaty in 2001.
Noko affirms the LWF’s support for the convention on the reduction of greenhouse gases, citing the July 2003 Assembly commitment to promote the use of renewable energy resources, and back “international agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol that seek to preserve the environment and the integrity of creation.”
In his statement, the LWF general secretary calls on British Prime Minister Tony Blair to use his 2005 presidency of the ‘Group of Eight’ – the world’s most industrialized nations – to exercise the necessary leadership “not only to set the Kyoto Protocol on the path to full implementation, but also to establish the agenda for the much more radical initiatives that will have to come after Kyoto in order to respond in a meaningful and effective way to the unfolding crisis of climate change.”
Noko points out that the nations most responsible for the rise in greenhouse gas emissions have the greatest responsibility for addressing this global problem. “Those who seek to exempt themselves from taking the action that this crisis demands will secure no exemption from the global environmental disaster that is looming,” he adds. (375 words)
Following is the full text of LWF General Secretary Noko’s statement on the Kyoto Protocol:
Statement by Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko
General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation
following the Russian Duma vote on the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
On behalf of the member churches of the Lutheran World Federation, I welcome the October 22 vote by the Russian Duma in favor of the Kyoto Protocol on reduction of greenhouse gases. I hope that this decision will be swiftly affirmed by both the upper house of the Russian parliament and by President Vladimir Putin. Russian ratification of this 1997 protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will finally bring it into legal effect.
The delegates participating in the LWF’s Tenth Assembly in Winnipeg, Canada, in July 2003 expressed strong support for this important international instrument. Meeting under the theme “For the Healing of the World”, the LWF Assembly made a commitment to work against climate change and the greenhouse effect, to act to decrease the consumption of fossil fuels, to promote the use of renewable energy resources, and to support international agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol that seek to preserve the environment and the integrity of creation.
Furthermore, the LWF Assembly issued a public statement specifically calling on the Government of the United States of America to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and to work towards decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. In 2001, the present administration of the United States - the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in both absolute and per capita terms - withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol, calling it “fundamentally flawed.”
The nations most responsible for the rise in greenhouse gas emissions have the greatest responsibility for addressing this global problem. Those who seek to exempt themselves from taking the action that this crisis demands will secure no exemption from the global environmental disaster that is looming.
In the meantime, greenhouse gas emissions are continuing to climb. Scientists have confirmed this month that there has been a dramatic and unexpected increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, raising fears that the limits of the ecosystem’s capacity to absorb this key greenhouse gas may have been reached. The latest scientific evidence has also indicated that the impacts of global warming will be even more serious than previously predicted, and a recent spate of extreme weather events - with tragic human consequences - have given a glimpse of what the future may hold.
I therefore call on the Government of the United States of America, and that of other industrialized countries such as Australia that have not already done so, to revise their positions and to ratify this modest start in the global response to climate change.
Even if ratified and implemented by all major greenhouse gas producers, the Kyoto Protocol only envisages a reduction of approximately 5 percent from the baseline 1990 level of emissions, and it expires in 2012. Moreover, it does not require cuts from the major industrializing developing countries, whose emissions are expected to increase rapidly. Much deeper cuts in emissions, more widespread controls, and much greater investment in renewable energy technologies will be required if levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are to stabilize at levels that will prevent even more disastrous damage to God’s earth and to the life that it sustains.
I call on Prime Minister Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, to use the UK’s presidency of the ‘Group of Eight’ during 2005 to exercise the necessary leadership not only to set the Kyoto Protocol on the path to full implementation, but also to establish the agenda for the much more radical initiatives that will have to come after Kyoto in order to respond in a meaningful and effective way to the unfolding crisis of climate change. This is a matter of respect for the integrity of creation, and of responsible stewardship. It may also prove to be a matter of survival.
Geneva
2 November 2004
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