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A World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation will take part in the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) Rio+20 from 20 to 22 June in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The delegates will participate in various ecumenical and interfaith events both at the venue of Rio+20 and the Peoples’ Summit for Social and Environmental Justice organized by the civil society.
“We hope that the results of Rio will effectively reflect a larger ‘we’, including in particular the most vulnerable and poor communities in the world,” said Dr Guillermo Kerber, WCC programme executive on climate change, who is facilitating the WCC delegation to Rio+20.
“WCC delegates will focus on highlighting ethical concerns, and religious insights in a number of events which we have organized, in addition to the intense advocacy efforts to be carried out at the UNCSD,” he added.
The WCC programme for Eco-justice is organizing a series of side events both at the UNCSD and the People’s Summit. One of them will focus on “ethical and religious insights on the future we want”. “The future we want” is the title of the outcome document of Rio+20, expected to include a call for action and commitments by the participating countries. The meeting will take place on 22 June in room P3-B at the Rio Centro (Convention Centre), venue for the UNCSD 2012.
At the event, a message from Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople will be read, while the WCC Central Committee moderator, Rev. Dr Walter Altmann, will be one of the speakers among other religious leaders. The event has been co-organized by the WCC with Caritas Internationalis, the Lutheran World Federation and Religions for Peace.
On 17 June, another WCC side event will address the theme “Ethical implications of sustainability: educational and religious perspectives”. The WCC has organized this event with the Baptist World Alliance, the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, the International Forum on Human Rights (FIDH), the University of Washington and other partners. The event will take place in room T-5 from 09.30 to 11.00 at the convention centre.
To address the “spirituality and ethics of water”, the Ecumenical Water Network (EWN) of the WCC joins with United Religions Initiative (URI) and Faith without Borders (FWB) in an event on 18 June, from 09.30 to 11.30 in room P3-B. The interfaith panel will be led by theologian Dr Reijo E. Heinonen, founding dean of the ecumenical theological faculty of the University of Joensuu in Finland.
Other events where the WCC delegates will contribute include a seminar on “The Rio+20 Legacy: an inter-generational dialogue on sustainability” on 13 June from 13.00 to 15.30. This event will be organized by Beyond 2015, the Global Campaign for Climate Action (GCCA).
Alongside groups of children and youth, the WCC delegates will also participate in a side event organized by the World Team Now’s Panel on Humanity & Environment = Our World’s Resources on 18 June, from 11.30 to 1300 in room T-3. The event has been co-organized with GCCA Tcktcktck.
Besides these events, a comprehensive programme on the theme “Religions for Rights” has been developed for the Peoples’ Summit by the Ecumenical Coordination office. The office was established in March by Koinonia, an ACT Alliance member organization in Rio, and is led by Dr Marcelo Schneider, the WCC’s communication liaison for Latin America.
The programme will bring together ecumenical and inter-religious participants for events in seven different tents at the Peoples’ Summit. As part of the activities, a vigil will take place on the night of 17 June.
“Our original idea was to promote an expressive spiritual event organized with the members of our ecumenical inter-religious initiative,” said Schneider. “But the People’s Summit coordination group adopted the idea, and now the vigil is going to be part of the overall programme at the event.”
“We had to adapt our language and symbolism to include many different expressions and movements of civil society. The vigil will focus on the four basic elements of life and the rights we are advocating for,” Schneider added.
WCC activities at the Peoples’ Summit will include workshops on the “WCC and the Rio Convention on Climate Change” on 16 June from 09.15 to 10.45 in tent 2 and “Climática: Criação e Responsabilidade Humana” (climate and human responsibility for creation) in the main tent from 14.00 to 15.30. The same day, launch of David Hallman’s book Spiritual Values for Earth Community will take place from 17.30 to 19.00 in tent 2.
On 21 June, a panel will address “Bases Éticas e Teológicas da justiça climática” (ethical and theological basis of climate justice) in the main tent, including Leonardo Boff, renowned Brazilian liberation theologian, as one of the speakers.
Read also:
Churches on the way to Rio+20 (WCC press release of 30 April 2012)
More information on Peoples’ Summit at Rio+20
