Global Issues are 'All in the Family'

Trade issues and climate change can seem quite abstract. But for many of our brothers and sisters in Christ, what we think of as ‘issues’ are already having a measurable impact on daily life – and  Christians are being asked to respond with prayer and action. 

In Botswana and Namibia, countries which border our link diocese, some businesses are finding it hard to plan their futures. This has happened because of uncertainties surrounding Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), trade agreements being negotiated between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.

Negotiations around EPAs have a deadline of 31 December. But the impact of such agreements on some of the world’s poorest countries is a matter of widespread concern. In consequence, governments and church leaders have urged an extension to the negotiations, to allow time for developing countries to work through the details. They have also called for governments and civil society to have an opportunity to  scrutinize and debate the agreements’ texts – and for alternative options to be available. The call for more time has been backed by, among others, the World Bank.

The EU, however, is refusing to consider the possibility of extensions or alternatives, and is threatening that if agreements  are not signed by 31 December, some countries will lose their current trade preferences with the EU as of 1 January 2008. For countries like Botswana and Namibia, such sudden preference losses could be highly problematic. One estimate is that the entire Botswana beef industry could collapse within five months.

Within the UK, Church leaders and Christian agencies such as CAFOD, CCOW, Christian Aid, Tearfund and Traidcraft are campaigning for more time, a guarantee that failure to sign an agreement by the deadline will not result in automatic loss of preferences, and parliamentary scrutiny. You can join them  by praying and taking the email actions to be found on the agency websites.

Christians worldwide are also increasingly concerned about the impacts of climate change on their countries. At a recent Anglican Communion meeting, Melanesian clergy and lay leaders talked about the islands’ already having to be evacuated because of rising sea levels. Southern Africans spoke about extreme droughts compounding the difficulties faced by countries with high AIDS infection rates and low food security. Canadians spoke of the plight of Inuits, whose traditional lifestyles are threatened by the warming of the Arctic Circle.

In response to this situation, the Oxford Dioceses World Development Group, working with the diocesan Environmental Group, is planning two meetings: one on the 27 November in Amersham and one on 11  December in Warfield. These meetings will look at the science of climate change, the impacts on developing countries, the response developing countries are themselves making, and what we can do. Speakers will include Revd. Dr. Ian James, the diocesan environmental officer; Sandeep Sengupta, a researcher at the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University; and Paul Valentin, the international director of Christian Aid.