AIPRAL, the WCRC’s regional council in Latin America, signed on to an ecumenical statement in advance of the recently completed UN Climate Change Conference (also known as COP 20) held in Lima, Peru.
“AIPRAL has been working a lot on this issue in the last few years,” said Dario Barolin, executive secretary of AIPRAL. “In fact we have done meetings in all of AIPRAL’s region on the topic of climate justice. It also will be the main issue around our coming assembly.”
The statement reads, in part:
From our faith we consider the effects of climate change to be a true threat to human life and nature, a precious gift that we have received in creation and that which we must care.
As representatives of churches and ecumenical organizations, we commit to:
- strengthen educational processes that allow for a greater ecological awareness
- accompany and propel alternative development that cares for the biodiversity and
balance of nature - promote disaster risk reduction and resiliency
- contribute to low-carbon development,
- change our own consumption patterns and
- reduce the use of fossil fuels
We will be zealous caretakers of our Mother Earth and are on the alert for further action if measures are not taken which guarantee for us the continuation of life on our planet.
The full statement can be found through these links: