Praying for COP28 - World Climate Action Summit Day 2 & Water

COP28 - 2 December 2023

World Climate Action Summit Day 2

Water

Today and yesterday the COP28 summit is dedicated to the World Climate Action Summit. In our prayers today we will lift up the delegates who as yesterday are discussing Technology and Innovation Hub, Business & philanthropy Climate forum and Climate Innovation Forum

We also want to pray about water. Water is part of the COP28 discussions on Day 10 (next Sunday). On that day Cop28 will consider freshwater restoration and conservation, infrastructure for urban water resilience, and integrated governance and management of water-food systems. We wish to pray about it today because:

Day 10 also focuses on agriculture and food, which are sufficiently big important topics to cover in one day.
Water, as we saw in our prayers on Day 1, is central to the problems faced by those already suffering with climate change. Those people and communities have either too much, or too little water: unpredictable weather, flooding, storms and droughts.

A short prayer

Father we thank you for the symbolism of water in your word and its associations with life and hope.

We thank you for the fresh water from our taps that we take for granted each day. We confess that we are both amazed and horrified by the photos we see of houses surrounded by flood water, of raging torrents tearing up everything in their paths and the destruction of low lying coastal areas because of rising seas.

We pray for those experiencing floods. We pray also for areas that long for rain, for people forced to move in search of water for their crops and animals and we ask your forgiveness for the way we have contributed to this.

A longer prayer

Father, we thank you for water, a simple yet seemingly miraculous molecule. We thank you for how it sustains life in every sense. We thank you for the ice at the poles, for the raging seas, for rock pools and muddy puddles that team with life and the steam rising from our kettles.

As the Parties at COP28 will soon be discussing aspects of water we think of those who have too little and those who have too much. We pray for East Africa affected by the worst drought the region has experienced for more than 40 years, with more than 36 million people across Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and South Sudan affected. We pray for the 22 million children, women and men who do not have enough food to survive and who are living on the line between life and death. We pray for a region and a people who are taking desperate measures to survive in the face of extreme hunger, caused by failed harvests, livestock deaths and water shortages.

Father these people are our neighbours, and they are a people in crisis beyond anything we can imagine. We ask that you come close to them, that emergency agencies will bring safety and relief.

Flooding can cause loss of life and injury, loss of homes and displacement, a disruption in the supply of food and drinkable water. Floods also promote disease. Heavenly Father, as we try to comprehend the destruction that flooding causes to people’s lives, our hearts grieve. We ask for you to be with all who have suffered loss in floods. For those who have lost homes, we pray for shelter and community. For those who have lost livelihoods, we ask for financial security. For those who have lost loved ones, we pray that they know comfort in their mourning. And Father God, author of creation who shaped this earth, by your power and might may waters subside quickly and land be restored. Amen.

From World Vision prayer for flood victims

From the Bible

Genesis 9:8-16

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

Isaiah 44:2-4

This is what the Lord says—

he who made you, who formed you in the womb,

and who will help you:

Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant,

Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

For I will pour water on the thirsty land,

and streams on the dry ground;

I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,

and my blessing on your descendants.

They will spring up like grass in a meadow,

like poplar trees by flowing streams.

Issues

Extreme weather events are making water more scarce, more unpredictable, more polluted or all three. These impacts threaten people’s lives, homes and livelihoods; also threaten biodiversity and social and economic development.
Disasters can destroy or contaminate entire water supplies, increasing the risk of diseases like cholera and typhoid, or bringing salt water onto farmed land and into drinking-water.
Rising sea levels flood low-lying coastal areas, depriving people of their homes and livelihoods. These are permanent changes.
UNICEF highlights the risks for children caused by extreme weather:
- It makes it harder for children to get access to safe drinking water, especially for the poorest and most vulnerable
- About 450 million children do not have enough water to meet their everyday needs
Rising temperatures make it more likely for deadly pathogens to infect drinking water. Water-born diseases are amongst the leading cause of death in children under five. Every day on average, a thousand children under 5 die from diarrhoea linked to inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene
Climate change places more areas into water stress - competition over scarce resources, even conflict
By 2040 almost one quarter of all children will be living in areas of extremely high water stress.

Hope

COP28 partnered with the Netherlands and Tajikistan, as co-chairs of the UN Water Conference: and have developed the Water Action Agenda
UNESCO describe a flood-defence scheme in West Africa. It is delivering training to hundreds of coordinators in eleven countries which experience drought as well as floods. It includes flood preparedness, simple ways to communicate quickly when a flood strikes, and processes that save lives and livestock
10 minute video showing how Bangladesh has learnt to cope with natural disasters, despite being one of the most climate-vulnerable countries
Copernicus data helps Heineken with sustainable use of water

COP28 discussions

Yesterday and today the topics up for discussion are:

The technology and Innovation Hub
The Business & Philanthropy Climate forum
The Climate Innovation Forum @ COP

On Day 10 of COP28 the discussions on water will include:-

Showcase best in class NDCs (Nationally Determined Contribution) & NAPs (National Adaptation Plan) for water resilience
Financing climate resilient water, sanitation & hygiene utilities
High level ministerial dialogue on building water resilient food systems
From Relief to Climate-Resilient Development.

Find out more

An excellent introduction by the National Geographic, to the importance of water, lakes, seas, rivers, in our lives; and their vulnerability
UN Page on Water & Climate Change
UNICEF on Water, Climate Change & its effect on children
COP27 Water and Gender website by the Climate Champions