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In an ecumenical declaration to be presented at the final session of the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, Christian organizations and individuals stress the positive role that religions and spirituality can play for a more harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature.

In an act of solidarity with the 2.5 billion people in the world who do not have access to safe, private and hygienic lavatories, staff members of a number of church-related organizations based at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, including the World Council of Churches (WCC), queued in front of a symbolic "toilet door" for ten minutes on World Water Day, 22 March.

"The present day reality shows that our sincere efforts have not been enough to bring in the age of social justice and peace," according to a statement delivered to the plenary of high-level segment of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark on Friday, 18 December on behalf of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and its ecumenical partners.

With the climate change negotiations sputtering and showing signs of being less than legally binding, ambitious and fair, leaders of churches and international church organizations sent a message to negotiators Tuesday evening imploring them to "not be afraid." The letter, which was signed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the incoming and outgoing general secretaries of the World Council of Churches as well as church leaders from Europe, North America and the Pacific, says the negotiations are at a crucial stage and negotiators need to be steadfast to "act now."

By Mark Beach (*)

Half way through the UN climate summit in Copenhagen and after a week in which no breakthrough was achieved, ecumenical leaders have asked negotiators to be more ambitious.

As a wave of ringing bells embraced the globe, churches sent a strong message to world leaders gathered at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen: There is only one world and in order to preserve it, bold action needs to be taken now.

By Mark Beach (*)

As nations are spelling out their bargaining positions for the negotiations on a new international climate deal to take place in Copenhagen next month, churches around the world are trying to ring home the message that climate protection is an ethical and spiritual issue.

Church representatives from around the world will gather in New York City 15-20 November to press three issues within the agenda of the United Nations: peoples being displaced by climate change, indigenous people's rights and Colombia's protracted internal conflict.

In a message for World Environment Day, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has stressed that "the care for and protection of Creation constitutes the responsibility of everyone on an individual and collective level."

The myth according to which host countries are "victims" of migration needs to be challenged, as in fact their economies benefit from the exploitation of the migrants' work.

Radical changes and tangible commitments from world leaders are needed if an equitable and sustainable global economic system is to be built, says an ecumenical delegation attending a UN conference on financing for development starting tomorrow in Qatar.

After six days of intense discussions on migration, the conflict in Sri Lanka and climate change, of common prayer and practical efforts to make the voice of the churches on these issues heard at the United Nations, the UN Advocacy Week of the World Council of Churches (WCC) ended with good results on Friday.

The spiritual and moral dimension s of climate change are best shown by how it affects the poorest and most vulnerable, says the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in a message marking 1 September as a day of prayer for God's creation.