update from CCOW

Dear Friends,

If you are putting together intercessions for Sunday, do please remember to pray for the situation in Zimbabwe and for the Climate Change Bill as it makes its way through the House of Commons. All the development agencies are also asking supporters to email their MPs about some critical measures in the Climate Bill.

There is a lot of material related to Zimbabwe available online. The Guardian has a very powerful video clip about the violence surrounding the current election campaign. In terms of the church response, you might want to look at material about the Zambian Catholic bishops' letter to the SADC ; the pastoral letter from the Anglican Bishops of Central Africa ; and the letter from the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches . There's also a good summary with prayer material from Christian Solidarity Worldwide. On an ongoing basis, you can receive regular updates from Tearfund by signing up for their regular Zimbabwe prayer email. Christian Aid sends out less frequent, but more in-depth updates drawing on the experiences of their partners. To join the mailing list for their "Voices from Zimbabwe" briefings, email cmoyse@christian-aid.org. We'll also be posting more on our website about Zimbabwe next week.

On the Climate Change Bill, there is plenty of material for prayer points and action available from CAFOD, Christian Aid, and Tearfund. The websites also contain the background information about the Bill, the Government's refusal to take on some amendments made in the House of Lords, and what needs to happen next. The email actions are quite important; there is very little time for campaigning. Please do encourage people to participate.

Thank you for your prayers and action!

God bless,

Maranda

New on the CCOW website: Report on "Journey to Justice," the commemoration of the 1998 Birmingham Jubilee Chain.

'Sisters on the Planet' - Inspiring Oxfam DVD

This DVD shows how four inspirational women from Bangladesh, Uganda, Brazil and UK - are leading their communities in the fight against climate change. It launches an Oxfam campaign on climate change, focusing on how this affects the poorest people in the world and women in particular. Contact Marcus if you would like to borrow it.

Peak Water?

'Water crisis to be biggest world risk' - from www.telegraph.co.uk, 6/6/08

Catastrophic water shortage could prove an even bigger threat to mankind this century than soaring food prices and the relentless exhaustion of energy reserves, according to a panel of global experts at the Goldman Sachs "Top Five Risks" conference.

Nicholas (Lord) Stern, author of the Government's Stern Review on the economics of climate change, warned that underground aquifers could run dry at the same time as melting glaciers play havoc with fresh supplies of usable water. "A few hundred square miles of the Himalayas are the source for all the major rivers of Asia - the Ganges, the Yellow River, the Yangtze - where 3bn people live. That's almost half the world's population," he said.