Kevin Maina, a member of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Climate Justice and Sustainable Development and a representative of the Anglican communion, shares his experience as a participant of the United Nations Environment Assembly's sixth session (UNEA-6) in Kenya.
After a years-long battle against proposed water-related legislation in Nigeria that had high potential for privatizing water, the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Water Network in Nigeria celebrated the defeat of the proposed law, and pledged to continue to protect water as a human right.
Church leaders in Kenya were reiterating the call for solutions to the country’s food crisis, even as rain brought some hope for communities battered by a severe drought.
On World Food Safety Day, clerics and farmers in Kenya reflected about aflatoxin—a group of poisons found in maize and peanuts—that continue to cause deaths and related diseases in the East African country.
In drought-stricken regions in eastern Africa, churches and church congregations continue to pray for rain, as the weather conditions leave millions of people without food, water and pasture for their animals.
As the war in Ukraine triggers an unexpected rise in food and commodity prices in African markets, church leaders are reaching out to communities struggling with food insecurity and shortages.
African Church leaders are highlighting the need to tame the continent’s persistent post-harvest losses, as organizations point at rising food insecurity due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As the UN warns that the coronavirus pandemic is pushing millions to the brink if starvation in a “widespread famine of biblical proportions,” a senior Christian leader in Africa has emphasised that it is possible to beat hunger, a yoke that enslaves many in the continent.
Recent calls for increased action against hunger by church leaders, faith-based humanitarian agencies and development leaders are finding significance as a new report warns of serious levels of under-nutrition in sub-Saharan Africa.
Millions of churches, mosques, synagogues and temples around the world that embrace sustainability in their investments, buildings and teachings are a symbol of hope for the planet struggling with an ecological crisis, said Joyce Msuya, a Tanzanian microbiologist who is the deputy executive director for the Nairobi-based UN Environment.
As centres of change and strong stakeholders in achieving sustainable development, places of worship must set the example in adopting green infrastructure and energy, a new report says.
People trust the messages and actions disseminated and undertaken by faith-based organizations, according to the report.
More than 70 African ecumenical leaders will take part in training seminars for diakonia and development, improving human resource development capacities of churches across all regions of the continent.
As the 4th UN Environment Assembly concluded in Nairobi, Kenya on 15 March, faith leaders at the gathering urged action beyond the resolutions, while warning that the current ecological crisis, if not urgently addressed, could grow to a catastrophe.
On the sidelines of the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, top UN officials, religious leaders and environmental experts underlined the role of faith communities in tackling climate change, a phenomenon that threatens to annihilate humanity.
As churches worldwide focus on the “Action Week for Food” in October, increasing numbers of people going hungry due to violent conflicts, failed harvests and rising food costs are compelling faith-based organizations to offer urgent intervention.
Thirty years ago, the founders of the Ecumenical Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women were searching for ways to not only help women across the globe seek justice but also highlight their contributions to churches and the world.
As part of their work to care for creation, Kenyan church leaders are backing a government effort to restore the Mau Forest, a vital ecosystem in the Rift Valley region.
The Global Day of Prayer to End Famine has found relevance in Africa, where communities bear the brunt of severe food shortages associated with the challenge. On 10 June, the WCC, All Africa Conference of Churches and World Evangelical Alliance called on churches to pray for millions of people at risk and those who face severe hunger.
The WCC, World Evangelical Alliance and All Africa Conference of Churches, along with church-related humanitarian organizations and a coalition of church-related networks and organizations and partners, are planning 10 June 2018 as a second Global Day of Prayer to End Famine to be observed in faith congregations worldwide.