In 10 days, Jim Stump and I shall be boarding a airplane headed for Baku, Azerbaijan. (For those who’re like I used to be only a few months in the past and don’t know the place Azerbaijan is, it’s on the Caspian sea between Russia and Iran.) This isn’t a trip, although I’m positive we’ll see some attention-grabbing issues and speak to some attention-grabbing folks. We’re going as official observers to one of many greatest worldwide gatherings on the earth—COP29.
That may not imply something for lots of people. ‘COP’ stands for Convention of Events (the whole lot clear now?). COP29 is the twenty ninth assembly of ‘the events’—now 198 international locations—which can be part of the United Nations Local weather Change Convention. That is a world physique working to restrict the hazards of local weather change around the globe. In official language, the purpose of the convention is to “stabilize greenhouse fuel concentrations within the ambiance at a degree that will stop harmful anthropogenic interference with the local weather system.” COP meets every year in several international locations and every of the 198 international locations sends delegates to assist negotiate new agreements and verify on progress of beforehand set objectives. The Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Settlement are each outcomes of earlier COPs.
Apart from the official negotiators, COP additionally invitations accredited observers. That is the place Jim and I are available in, together with hundreds of different folks from around the globe representing totally different pursuits. Observers don’t have a component in arguing over the wording of worldwide treaties or setting objectives however they do play an essential position. Observers are invited to take a seat in on most of the official periods (although not all of them). This offers some degree of transparency as we are able to report again about what is alleged and who’s saying it. However it’s not solely passive. Observers even have alternatives to be heard—by means of occasions held contained in the official zone of the convention, by means of networking and casual conversations, and just by displaying as much as bear witness to those essential negotiations.
Jim and I gained’t be touring alone. In actual fact, we’re attending as a part of a bunch referred to as the Christian Local weather Observers Program (CCOP). CCOP brings Christians from around the globe to be observers, to come back and present the world that Christians care about this difficulty. Collectively we could have an opportunity to be taught one another’s tales, eat collectively, pray collectively, and produce our hope for a future wherein God’s creation prospers into the worldwide dialog round local weather change. (What will we imply by hope? Try this podcast)
You may nonetheless have some questions…
- Do the outcomes of COP29 truly matter to me?
- Can one particular person truly make a distinction in one thing so huge?
- Does Christianity have any sway within the world dialog about local weather change?
Properly, these are good questions and they’re issues we’ll be searching for. We’ll be again to let you already know what we see, to let you know a bit extra extra about what is definitely being mentioned at this 12 months’s convention and to attempt to reply a few of these questions above. For actual time updates comply with BioLogos on social media and subscribe to the Language of God podcast.
