April 30, 2012

Climate justice and the integrity of creation have been of concern to churches around the world. While stakeholders in the debate on climate change will gather at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development Rio+20 this year in June, the World Council of Churches (WCC) hopes for discussions to go beyond the narrow understandings of a green economy and the international framework for sustainable development.

The WCC has been advocating for sustainable communities and climate justice at the UN since the 1980s when this was part of the preparations for the UN conference on Environment and Development in Rio 1992, where the Convention on Climate Change was adopted.

A WCC delegation hopes to influence the discussions on climate justice with a faith-based perspective at the Rio+20 event in which they will participate.

"We want Rio+20 to assess what happened during the twenty years after Rio 1992 on the issues of sustainability and the environment. A comprehensive perspective is required on green economy and the international framework for sustainable development, the two major topics of the Conference," said Dr Guillermo Kerber, WCC programme executive on climate change.

"The work of the WCC at the UN is rooted in churches' struggles for climate justice at the grassroots. This includes initiatives in countries like the Czech Republic or Myanmar," added Kerber.

While describing the work of churches at the local level, Kerber mentioned the project for renewable and clean energy directed by Roman Juriga, director of Akademie, a non-profit Orthodox organization in the Czech Republic.

Juriga has been working for several years at the Pravoslavná Akademie Vilémov for renewable energy, and his story was shared in a blog post by the Global Campaign on Climate Action (GCCA), of which the WCC is a member.

In his blog post, Juriga said, "Everything was given to us by God to survive, that includes the energy and the capacity to create energy, and that is why we have named our turbine St. Elias."

As 2012 is the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All, the WCC especially encourages churches and communities to organize prayers around this theme during the Time for Creation this year. The Time for Creation takes place from 1 September to 4 October.

While churches continue their efforts leading up to Rio+20, the Lawibual Baptist Church Tiddim will address the reality of climate change and water management in Chin State, Myanmar in a workshop on 5 May. The participants will also plant trees in the church sanctuary.

Hau Sian Suan, a participant of the Youth for Eco-Justice training programme organized by the WCC and the Lutheran World Federation last year in Durban, South Africa, is one of the key organizers for this event.

This event will be one of the many events to be organized by the churches and faith organizations on 5 May as part of the Connect the Dots initiative. In this context, Bill McKibben, the renowned environmentalist, points out, "We're so hopeful that religious communities will be involved in this work, for it stems directly from the stewardship commandments of the Hebrew Bible and the gospel injunctions to love one's neighbours."

"One of the things that faith communities do best is bear witness, on our own behalf and on behalf of those whose voices are not heard in our societies," said McKibben.

Read also:

Ethics and human rights focus for Rio+20 Summit (WCC press release of 22 March 2012): http://lists.wcc-coe.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=jazjt,effu,usx,iwj4,iszh,iczd,e4ua.

Read full blog story about Roman Juriga and his projectsL: http://lists.wcc-coe.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=jazjt,effu,usx,d9fx,c1nn,iczd,e4ua.

Participate and register for the event Connect the Dots: http://lists.wcc-coe.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=jazjt,effu,usx,kkv8,lli7,iczd,e4ua.

Global Campaign for Climate Action – tcktcktck: http://lists.wcc-coe.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=jazjt,effu,usx,a1fo,99u7,iczd,e4ua.

Time for Creation: http://lists.wcc-coe.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=jazjt,effu,usx,air5,6zol,iczd,e4ua.

WCC campaign on climate change: http://lists.wcc-coe.org/ct.html?rtr=on&s=jazjt,effu,usx,45hp,k64t,iczd,e4ua.

World Council of Churches