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A “Water and Faith” day will be held on 30 August in Stockholm, Sweden, offering many opportunities to explore how faith-based groups can act in partnership with the public and private sectors to achieve water justice for all people.

At a 27 January conference in Rome, Rev. Henrik Grape, coordinator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Working Group on Climate Change, spoke about how to transform our world to sustainability and, at the same time, fight poverty and hunger without destroying the environment.

Receiving the news that Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal Peter Turkson as president of the newly created dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, the WCC expressed expectation to cooperation with the new structure, as it relates to several dimensions of work and cooperation with the Roman Catholic Church worldwide.

How can religion and faith communities contribute to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals? Setting out to address this very question, a panel of faith representatives gathered at World Water Week in Stockholm on 29 August, introduced by keynote speaker Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace at the Vatican. The panel was also welcomed by Rt. Rev. Thomas Söderberg, Church of Sweden.

Comment la religion et les communautés de croyants peuvent-elles contribuer à la réalisation des objectifs de développement durable fixés par l’ONU? C’est avec cette question en tête qu’un comité d’experts constitué de représentants et représentantes de différentes religions s’est réuni à l’occasion de la Semaine mondiale de l’eau à Stockholm le 29 août, avec une intervention notable du cardinal Peter Turkson, président du Conseil pontifical «justice et paix» au Vatican. Le comité d’experts a par ailleurs été accueilli par l’évêque Thomas Söderberg, de l’Église de Suède.

“Church leaders and other leaders of faith communities played a vital role in Paris,” said Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC, in an interview during the week following the COP21 UN conference on climate change.

In a meditation at the Saint Egidio evening prayer in the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere, Rome on 14 December, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit celebrated love and hope this Advent season, particularly in the context of the plight of thousands of refugees and varied reactions to the climate talks in Paris.

Le 14 décembre à Rome, lors de la prière du soir de Sant' Egidio, en l'église Santa Maria in Trastevere, le pasteur Olav Fykse Tveit, secrétaire général du COE, a proposé une méditation pour célébrer l'amour et l'espérance en cette période de l'Avent, évoquant plus particulièrement la détresse des milliers de réfugiés et les diverses réactions à la Conférence sur le climat de Paris.

"In COP21 we decide whether the glass is half full or half empty, but the glass must be transparent", tweeted climate activist Yeb Saño at the end of a day full of activities engaging leadership and staff members of the WCC, the Lutheran World Federation and ACT Alliance, at the Ecumenical Centre, in Geneva, Switzerland.

World leaders will meet at the crucial United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) in Paris from 30 November to 11 December. Faith groups around the world are building awareness of the importance of reaching a binding and ambitious agreement at the talks. In October, WCC members have taken part in climate activities in Germany.

The World Water Week is a “stepping stone” in accomplishing Sustainable Development Goals related to water and sanitation – and the faith communities must be actively engaged in achieving this vision, according to Dinesh Suna, coordinator of the Ecumenical Water Network of the WCC. Suna shared these reflections following his participation at the 2015 World Water Week Stockholm held in Sweden.

The World Council of Churches welcomed Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si'”, released on June 18, which highlights what churches and ecumenical organizations have been doing for decades on caring for the earth and climate justice issues.

Le COE a salué la publication de l’encyclique «Laudao Si’» du pape François, qui met en lumière l’action que mènent depuis des décennies Églises et organisations œcuméniques en faveur de la Terre et de la justice climatique.

Anders Wejryd, one of the presidents of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and Archbishop Emeritus of the Church of Sweden, has been committed to climate issues since the start of the 1970s and the worldwide oil crisis of that time. To attain a vision of life in God’s kingdom – a healed creation and humanity in a harmony of justice, freedom and peace – Wejryd believes the issue of climate change must be taken seriously. He says that it is about safeguarding the creation, but that it is also an issue of justice and peace.

Joakim Book Jonnson, a salesman for a security company and a member of the Church of Sweden, transformed his urban commuter life when he decided to leave, at least temporarily, no ecological footprint.