After two weeks of training on the theology and politics of ecological justice in Durban, South Africa, Christian youth from around the world have pledged to start, in their own contexts, initiatives that promote the new understandings they have acquired.

In a statement read on 9 December to government members from around the world at the United Nations climate summit in Durban, South Africa, the WCC reaffirmed the need for a fair, ambitious and binding treaty to effectively address climate change effects on vulnerable communities.

DURBAN/GENEVA, 8 December 2011 (LWI/LUCSA) – With international negotiations on climate change near collapse in Durban, South Africa, Christian youth from around the world offer hope by studying their Bibles and reflecting on justice issues involved in the care of creation.

By Mike Langa-Lulanga

Durban, South Africa, 5 December (ENInews)--Christian young people are bringing their passion for change to a U.N. climate conference in Durban, South Africa, eager to learn how to spread the message that God's creation needs better care.

“This is the only home we have,” said Archbishop Desmond Tutu referring to the crucial significance of our planet and its survival. He was speaking in an interfaith rally in Durban, urging international leaders to deliver a fair, ambitious and binding treaty to address climate change effectively.

Considering climate change a “moral and spiritual crisis”, the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit calls the COP17 United Nations conference on climate change a “last opportunity for the international community to be responsible in addressing climate change”.

While staff of the WCC and sister organizations such as the Lutheran World Federation are preparing for the COP17 meeting in Durban, South Africa next week, the ecumenical community in Brazil is starting to think about 2012 when the UN conference Rio+20 will assess the outcomes of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development.

From Durban in South Africa to Busan in South Korea, water must be high on the agenda of international summits, conferences and church assemblies, according to participants in the Ecumenical Water Network Forum.

If you thought Moses was the only person to bring forth water from rocks, think again. The people in Mwingi have learned how to harvest and save water in one of the most volatile climates in the arid and semi-arid zones of north eastern Kenya. Through the help of Church World Service East Africa’s “Water for Life” programme, and the Anglican Church of Kenya Diocese of Kitui, several different types of water delivery systems have been...

Wilhelm Pierola Iturralde is the president of the Bolivian Association "Joining Hands for Life". In an interview at the Global Forum of the Ecumenical Water Network last week, he spoke about water issues in Bolivia.