Clare Amos, the WCC programme executive for inter-religious dialogue and cooperation, shares reflections from her participation at the interfaith gathering of Assisi on 27 October.

Rev. Canon Dr Ezekiel Olusegun Babatunde, director of the Institute of Church and Society with the Christian Council of Nigeria, speaks about attempts to provide clean drinking water to communities in Nigeria.

David Weaver, senior advisor for Global Advocacy at Church World Service in the United States, shares about the Mwingi Water for All Project, and how it is attempting to contribute to water justice.

Susan Lea Smith is an environmental and natural resources law professor from the United States. She shares her concern over the water crisis and the unjust distribution of water in the world, as well as efforts made to address this issue from a rights based perspective in her country.

WCC member churches in Canada join hands with faith leaders, politicians and civil society actors to stress a “moral responsibility to address global warming”, which they call “a spiritual crisis”. Together they prepared a “Canadian Interfaith Call for Leadership and Action on Climate Change”.

Dr Rommel F. Linatoc reflected on the issues of water and sanitation from an ecumenical perspective in the Philippines, speaking in an interview at the Global Forum of the Ecumenical Water Network. The theme of the forum, which took place from 25-27 October in Nairobi, Kenya, was "Like a tree planted by the water".

At an interfaith gathering in Assisi, called by Pope Benedict XVI, the WCC general secretary said, “The cross is not for crusades but a sign of God’s love embracing everybody”. He praised the role of “young change makers” in pursuit of peace and called faith leaders to engage in dialogue by addressing conflicts and accepting “the other”.

"Greed and Global Economics" is the theme of the latest issue of Ecumenical Review. In view of the current economic, financial and ecological crises, theologians, economists, an ethicist, and an historian provide an analysis of the issues of economic justice and structural greed.

When the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit attends a day of prayer for peace in Assisi, Italy on 27 October, he will be accompanied by Clare Amos of the Church of England, the new WCC programme executive for inter-religious dialogue and cooperation.

Churches have an important role to play in the lead-up to negotiations of a global treaty in 2012 to regulate the conventional arms trade, a WCC panel in New York has concluded. Key human rights obligations must be embedded in the treaty and churches should lobby together, on the basis of faith, said the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.