Oslo, Norway - Eleven bishops from Norway's Lutheran Church on Monday called on the country's authorities to step up efforts to fight climate change, which they say is particularly harmful to the southern hemisphere.
A joint declaration drafted by the humanitarian aid organisation Norwegian Church Aid urged Norway to reduce its greenhouse gases rather than buy emission rights, emphasize climate issues in development aid talks, and form a coalition with other "responsable countries" that are also ready to reduce emissions.
Norway, which has signed the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gases, is the world's third biggest exporter of oil -- a fossil fuel considered to be one of the main causes of global warming.
"It's important to focus our attention on why so many people on the planet are living in need and in poverty," said Helga Byfuglien, bishop of Borg, citing "political oppression and climate change caused by man" as causes.
"In order to get to the root of the problem, political changes are necessary," she said.
Norway's protestant Lutheran Church is a state Church, and at least half of the government's cabinet members must be members.