Geneva—World church leaders heard on Friday from their counterparts in the Pacific that for them climate change is not a theoretical issue, but it is a matter of life and death.

Responding to rising sea levels threatening to permanently submerge hundreds of Pacific islands, the main governing body of the World Council of Churches endorsed a series of steps to reverse disastrous effects of global warming.

“We are just small dots in the vast Pacific Ocean,” said Selai Cati, a member of the Kiribati Protestant Church, during a presentation by the council’s 18 member churches in the Pacific. “Now is the time for us to become more visible or we will disappear.”

She noted: “This [global warming and resulting climate change] is not a theoretical issue. For us it’s a matter of life and death. How much more can we adapt?”

The Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which became international law earlier this week, is “a milestone,” Cati said, “but there are continued threats to the survival of our region that must be addressed.”

The Pacific churches’ presentation also included discussion of the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS in the region and the continuing toll on Pacific islanders from 50 years of nuclear testing in the region by France, the United States and Great Britain.

“But climate change is the greatest threat to our region,” said the Rev. Valamotu Palu, president of the Pacific Conference of Churches. “We need action and, more importantly, solidarity from our global family.”

In adopting a nine-point plan called the Otin Taai Declaration — first approved by the Pacific Churches’ Consultation on Climate Change in March 2004 — the World Council of Churches’ main governing body noted the urgency of the threat human-induced climate change poses to the Pacific Islands.

It affirmed its support for the Pacific and other churches’ efforts to combat global warming; and called for greater collaboration by the ecumenical community to educate churches and the public about the effects of climate change and to advocate for stronger measures to persuade governments and industry to change their policies and activities.