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The hybrid event was hosted by Church of Sweden, Stockholm diocese, with speakers and participants participating online from around the world.

Rev. Henrik Grape, WCC senior advisor on Care for Creation, Sustainability and Climate Justice, emphasized the justice element of climate change and spoke on behalf of the vulnerable communities who have a negligible carbon footprint.

He further went on to speak for the rights of nature and that of the indigenous people, who have shown us the way to protect nature in a sustainable way. He ended his input by underlining the Season of Creation and the role played by WCC, the Roman Catholic Church, and others.

Meera Karunananthan of Carlton University, Canada and the Blue Planet Project that promotes Blue Communities, highlighted the nexus of water with climate change. She criticized the increased trend of privatization of water around the world, and highlighted the resistance offered by the water justice movement reclaiming their right to water.  She informed participants that over 200 cities and municipalities around the world have municipalized” their water services.  She lauded faith-based organisations for their role in this process in many instances.

Rev. Rachel Mash, environmental coordinator of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa spoke about water justice in the context of her church. She highlighted the zero day” encounter of Cape Town in South Africa few years ago and how that was a wakeup call to the city and to the whole world to manage water responsibly.

Juliane Stork and Joan Okitoi-Heisig, co-leads of PaRD workstream on Water, Environment and Climate Action (WeCare), introduced the work of the WeCare. They outlined the recent project of a mapping exercise by PaRD WeCare of faith-based organisations and their engagement in ecological issues. The mapping provided data of 200 faith-based organisations from around the world.

At the conclusion of the webinar, participants read the Interfaith Statement that was to be submitted to the Stockholm+50.

Watch the recording of there webinar 

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