October 15, 2009

NAIROBI, Kenya/GENEVA – A Lutheran World Federation (LWF) consultation on climate change, food security and poverty ended in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, with a call on the LWF member churches to challenge their governments to demand fair, equitable and legally binding agreements at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December.

Representatives of LWF member churches in Africa, diaconal institutions of churches in the region and mission partners also urged the LWF and ecumenical delegations attending the Copenhagen conference to demand adequate compensation for rehabilitating the environment in Africa.

"Climate change is a justice issue because those who have played an insignificant role in causing it are suffering the most," delegates stressed in the final statement of the 5 – 10 October, consultation organized by the Africa area desk at the LWF Department for Mission and Development.

"We ... listened to testimonies from people directly affected by climate change. As ascertained from them, rains do not fall or are very erratic, rivers and lands are drying up; resulting in poor harvests," the participants said in the statement that addressed a range of issues related to the continent's vulnerability to the impact of climate change.

LWF member churches were urged to engage their governments to address food insecurity and poverty, as well as add their voices in demanding justice for those made vulnerable or marginalized by climate change.

"I see this [consultation] as a starting point in trying to make the people aware of the problem, ramifications and consequences. I think something more needs to be done after this," said Rev. Dr Modeste Rakoto, president of the Malagasy Lutheran Church and current chairperson of the Lutheran Communion in Central and Eastern Africa (LUCCEA). "We have general principles and general deadlines ... but the next step should be steps toward good actions to make the people cope," he said in an interview with Lutheran World Information (LWI).

However, the biggest challenge, according to the LUCCEA leader was changing mind-sets so that people can address the situation.

Presiding Bishop Naison Shava of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe (ELCZ) said churches in Africa needed to build up confidence in actively addressing the challenges of climate change.

"The tendency in the church has been to be very highly empowered in production of documents and taking positions on paper, but we have been weak in terms of actions," said Shava. "We have had this trend for quite sometime. That's why I am saying; we need to look into ourselves introspectively and move toward action," he added.

"We must hate evil, love good: establish justice in the gate," remarked Namibian Bishop Dr Zephania Kameeta, LWF vice president for the African region earlier while presenting the key note address titled, "Theological and Ethical Questions and Public Role of the Church." He challenged Lutheran churches to "move away from ambulance approaches to addressing structural issues head on. Let us be bold, prophetic examples of doing justice, not charity."

Africa is least equipped to cope with the impact of climate change, participants noted in the consultation's final statement. The region's vulnerability is further heightened as its food production mainly depends on rainfall-fed agriculture. Indeed, the UN Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change warns that in 20 years, Africa could lose up to 60 percent of its agricultural productivity.

The final statement from the regional consultation on climate change is available on the LWF Web site at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/LWF_Documents/LWF-2009_Nairobi_Regional_Consultation-EN.pdf.

Lutheran World Information
By Nairobi [Kenya]-based LWI correspondent Fredrick Nzwili.