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On 16 September, the United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, Prof. Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, visited the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva.

As World Water Week 2021 is underway, this year’s online version has brought unprecedented participation as well as an even stronger role for faith communities.

An online event held on 22 July marked the launch of the Ecumenical Water Network Brazil, an initiative that intends to articulate several ecumenical organizations and interfaith voices with the purpose of raising awareness about the life cycle of water.

As tension grows in the long-running regional dispute over a giant dam built by Ethiopia on the Blue Nile, one of the Nile River’s main tributaries, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary, Rev. Prof. Dr. Ioan Sauca appealed to all WCC member churches in Ethiopia, Egypt, Sudan and around the world to pray for a peaceful solution to the problem.

Areas around the River Pardo in northeastern Brazil are home to more than one million people. Included in them are traditional communities such as the quilombolas (descendants of runaway African slaves), the geraizeiros and others. Each year they see less water in their river. “This is not solely due to the reduction in rainfall. 

The Brazilian municipality of Juiz de Fora has approved a cooperation agreement with Swiss Church Aid (HEKS/EPER), a member of the WCC’s Ecumenical Water Network (WCC-EWN), thus becoming part of an international working group that wants to contribute to good water management and management practices using a water flow diagram. The project also encompasses the city of Bern, Switzerland; Cape Town, in South Africa, and Rio Pardo de Minas, in Brazil.

Mni Wiconi

Water is life

This Lakota chant rang out anew as the Youth Council from the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Nations gathered with elders, tribal leaders and other water protectors for a springtime rally. Religious leaders continued to stand with them in solidarity for water justice.

As people across the world celebrated Earth Day, the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Water Network joined in prayers for the earth, water and land, and God’s gift of creation.

The World Social Forum 2021 is taking place virtually from 23-31 January, taking into account the interlinked global crises of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic hardship and climate emergency. Faith groups are continuing to accompany this process by organising discussions on theologies of liberation.