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The 5th Ecumenical Pilgrimage for Climate Justice from Poland to Glasgow crossed the English Channel from IJmuiden in the Netherlands to Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England on 11 October. They were given a warm welcome on site. 

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.

More than 100,000 people are still stranded from massive flooding caused by a devastating cyclone and heavy rainfall in Mozambique and neighbouring southeastern African countries. As the numbers of victims and people displaced are still unfolding, churches in the region are calling everyone to join in prayers for the wellbeing and protection of those affected.

“At COP24, there is a great responsibility for all politicians to get the necessary agreements to save the planet. This is a political and moral task that goes far beyond any national border”, said WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit in a tweet posted on 14 December, the eve of the closure of the United Nations climate conference underway in Katowice, Poland.

“We wonder when the leaders of our world will realize how late we have left our response to the climate crisis”, wrote His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in a letter to the participants of the United Nations climate conference underway in Katowice, Poland.

Pilgrims coming from Germany, Italy and Norway ended their journeys for climate justice on 7 December upon arrival at the St Stephen’s Church in Katowice, Poland, where the United Nations (UN) climate conference is underway. They were warmly welcomed by the delegations of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) that are attending the 24th Conference of Parties of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24).

“God wants the world. God wants us to steward it”, said the Swedish Archbishop Anders Wejryd, president of the World Council of Churches (WCC) for Europe, on 9 December, in his sermon at the Ecumenical Service as part of the United Nations climate conference, in Katowice, Poland.

Faith-based groups gathered on 2 December, the eve of the opening of the United Nations climate conference, in Katowice, Poland, for an Interfaith Talanoa Dialogue to take stock of the collective global efforts to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases.

The World Council of Churches (WCC), the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), ACT Alliance and the German Protestant development service Bread for the World are appealing to world leaders to take swift and coordinated action to limit global warming to 1.5°C degrees as a humanitarian and ethical obligation.

A group of ecumenical pilgrims started a journey towards the 2018 World Climate Conference hosting city Katowice, in Poland, where high level talks about the preservation of creation will take place. "Go then!" is the motto of the Ecumenical Pilgrimage for Climate Justice that took off in Bonn, Germany, on 9 September.

The huge impacts of businesses on the communities in which they operate often bring benefits, but companies can disregard and even harm people’s rights in pursuit of economic gain. The WCC, ACT Alliance and the Lutheran World Federation hosted a side event at the 6th United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva on 28 November, in this context.

A research report released 3 August tells the story of small farmers in Mozambique who are ad-versely impacted by large-scale, foreign agricultural investments - and the alternative, ecumeni-cal vision of life-giving agriculture.

A workshop in Mozambique examined the connections between finance on the one hand and food and land on the other. Titled “From the Financialization of Food to Life-giving Agriculture,” the workshop took place in Maputo from 7-11 December. It was organized by the WCC together with Bread for All and was hosted by the Christian Council of Mozambique.

At the 19th Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Warsaw, Poland, representatives of faith communities called for a just climate deal to be adopted by the UN in 2015. Many observers viewing the event from ethical and spiritual perspectives commented that COP19 concluded without fulfilling expectations of the victims of climate change.

Youth delegates to climate-change talks from churches of the Lutheran World Federation have initiated a call to fast with the poor and vulnerable who are disproportionately affected by extreme weather events. The call was joined immediately by other faith-based organizations present at the UN climate negotiations.

The international tug-of-war over carbon emission thresholds and other instruments meant to limit the deterioration of the earth's climate has caused a big stir in recent months, but yielded little results. Therefore the international community must now get ready to take care of those who will be forced from their homes by climate change.