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By George Arende (*)

In a statement read on 9 December to government members from around the world at the United Nations climate summit in Durban, South Africa, the World Council of Churches (WCC) reaffirmed the need for a fair, ambitious and binding treaty to effectively address climate change effects on vulnerable communities.

“This is the only home we have,” said Archbishop Desmond Tutu referring to the crucial significance of our planet and its survival. He was speaking in an interfaith rally in Durban, urging the United Nations conference on climate change (COP17) to deliver a fair, ambitious and binding treaty to address climate change effectively.

While staff of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and sister organizations such as the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) are preparing for the COP17 meeting for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Durban, South Africa next week, the ecumenical community in Brazil is starting to think about 2012 when the UN conference Rio+20 will assess the outcomes of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).

Considering climate change a “moral and spiritual crisis”, the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, calls the COP17 United Nations conference on climate change a “last opportunity for the international community to be responsible in addressing climate change” and urges positive outcomes from the event.

Calgary, Alberta, Canada was the site of a consultation on poverty, wealth and ecology that has issued a series of calls to action and reflection in a time of global financial crisis, environmental threat, and resistance to the ways of Wall Street and its allied economic structures. Representatives of North American churches urged their ecumenical and interfaith partners

With environmental disasters impacting community lives in acute ways around the globe, churches from India and other countries gathered in Chennai, last week to reaffirm their commitment to climate justice.Â

From Durban in South Africa to Busan in South Korea, water must be high on the agenda of international summits, conferences and church assemblies, according to participants in the Ecumenical Water Network Forum.

Rev. Canon Dr Ezekiel Olusegun Babatunde, a theologian from Immanuel College of Theology and director of the Institute of Church and Society of the Christian Council of Nigeria speaks about the attempts to provide clean and safe drinking water to communities seeking partnership with the government in Nigeria.

Member churches of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Canada join hands with faith leaders, politicians and civil society actors to stress a

David Weaver, senior advisor for Global Advocacy at Church World Service in the United States shares about the Mwingi Water for All Project, and how it is attempting to contribute to water justice. He was participating in a Global Forum of the Ecumenical Water Network (EWN) of the World Council of Churches (WCC), which took place from 25-27 October in Nairobi, Kenya.

"Greed and Global Economics" is the theme of the latest issue of Ecumenical Review. In view of the current economic, financial and ecological crises, theologians, economists, an ethicist, and an historian provide an analysis of the issues of economic justice and structural greed.

After a meeting with Ricardo Patiño, minister of Foreign Affair, Trade and Integration of Ecuador, World Council of Churches (WCC) officials call the Yasuni Ishpingo Tambococha Tiputini (ITT) initiative of the Ecuador government a courageous model of development.

Climate change is impacting human life and nature in severe ways. Yet it is the vulnerable who suffer most. As the life of such people is dependent on eco-systems for survival, churches join hands with other faith based organizations to support their cause, stressing an ethical aspect in the debate on climate change.

This past February the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee announced that the theme for the Tenth WCC Assembly in 2013 in Busan, Korea would be “God of life, lead us to justice and peace.”

At a time when the impact of climate change is on the front page of nearly every newspaper, magazine and web page, churches around the world are calling for a renewed commitment towards the environment and ecosystems.

The WCC Executive Committee opened its bi-annual meetings Monday 12 September in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with a welcoming ceremony by local church leaders and poignant and detailed presentations on the regional humanitarian crisis in Somalia and neighbouring countries.

A call for solidarity with the poor was delivered to a gathering of religious, political and civil society leaders from all over the world by one of the presidents of the World Council of Churches (WCC). The meeting on the topic “Bound to Live Together: Religions and Cultures in Dialogue” is taking place from 11-13 September in Munich, Germany.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has joined in a call to observe Thursday 1 September through Tuesday 4 October 2011 as a time for prayer, reflection and re-dedication regarding care for and just use of God’s gifts in nature.