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World Water Day 2024 events amplify WCC’s commitment to water for peace

The World Council of Churches (WCC) participated in three online events on 22 March, World Water Day, under the banner "Leveraging Water for Peace." These events, held in collaboration with various global partners, underscored the crucial intersection of faith, international perspectives, and the mission to build a sustainable Blue Community.

28 March 2024
Bible studies
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Seven Weeks for Water 2024, week 7: "Water for peace in the Africa region"

The seventh reflection of the Seven Weeks for Water 2024 series of the WCC Ecumenical Water Network is written by Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri. She reflects on one of earliest conflicts over water recorded in the Bible, and draws our attention to today’s water conflicts, giving examples of transboundary water conflicts in her region in Africa. She highlights Isaac, who chose peace over conflict related to water, time after time—a fitting message for the World Water Day 2024 and its theme, “Water for Peace.” 

25 March 2024
News
Bedford-Strohm

WCC leads workshop on Blue Communities at Lutheran World Federation Assembly

Speaking at a workshop on “Churches becoming Blue Communities” during the ongoing Lutheran World Federation Assembly on 16 September, World Council of Churches (WCC) moderator Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm introduced the concept of Blue Communities, emphasizing the importance of respecting the human right to water, resisting water privatization, and reducing the reliance on bottled water.

22 September 2023
News
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Webinar helps define menstruation as “a matter of our daily lives”

At a webinar organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC), Norwegian Church Aid, and the International Partnership of Religion and Sustainable Development on 30 May, participants brought to light the challenges faced in Menstrual Hygiene Management and the role that religious communities can play to build a world where no one is held back because they menstruate.

31 May 2023
News
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Water and sanitation prominent on COP27 agenda

The second week of the COP27 conference in Egypt focused on the link between global warming and water. This is the first time that water has been included on the agenda of a major global environmental event.

28 November 2022
News
A group of young children speak out to stop climate change, as under a 'call to #UprootTheSystem', Fridays for Future, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, 2021, Photo: Albin Hillert/Life on Earth Pictures

WCC Eco School for North America postponed until 2023

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has postponed its Eco School in North America until 2023, when it will be held in Europe. To accommodate participants from North America, a special event will be conducted in the region. Details about the event and the venue will be announced soon.

14 November 2022
News
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Faith based organisations underline creation justice in Stockholm+50 webinar

The World Council of Churches (WCC) and International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development (PaRD) co-hosted  a hybrid event on 2 June at Stockholm+50. Exploring the theme “Climate Action and Water for Life towards Creation Justice!” the event  reflected on the current scenario of the climate emergency and global water crisis which are interconnected and impact each other as well as the sustainability of the earth. 

12 June 2022
Interview
protests over the depletion and contamination of groundwater resources famously led to the closing of a Coca-Cola factory in the village of Plachimada, India, in 2005. 

Groundwater is “a political question”

In many regions, groundwater is being extracted faster than it can be replenished. Groundwater pollution from raw material extraction, industry, private households, and agriculture is also increasing. This year’s UN’s World Water Day focused on groundwater, urging to make “the invisible visible.” A new publication by Brot für die Welt (Bread for the World, Germany), a member of the WCC Ecumenical Water Network, takes up this call and demands the better protection and fairer use of this vital resource.  WCC news talked to co-author Dr Ingrid Jacobsen about the social and political dimension of groundwater.

27 April 2022
Bible studies
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Seven Weeks for Water 2022, week 7: “Pilgrimage of water justice in Europe,” by Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri

The seventh and final reflection of the Seven Weeks for Water 2022 of the WCC’s Ecumenical Water Network is written by Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri*. In the following reflection she, being the staff focal point of WCC’s Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace, makes a compelling analysis of how the WCC pilgrimage and the pilgrimage of water justice inter-relate, complement, and strengthen each other, with a particular reference to Europe.

11 April 2022
News
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Webinar explores how women navigate nexus of water, food and climate change

Held in conjunction with the 66th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, a World Council of Churches’ (WCC) webinar explored how women are navigating the water, food, and climate change nexus. Panellists and participants shared women-led and gender-just responses to the climate crisis as well as the role of churches and faith-based organisations.

16 March 2022
Bible studies
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Seven Weeks for Water 2022, week 1: "Water justice now", by Philip Peacock

The first reflection of the Seven Weeks for Water 2022 of the WCC’s Ecumenical Water Network is written by Philip Vinod Peacock.* In the following reflection, he reflects on the promise of God found in Isaiah, that God will quench the thirst of the poor and will not forsake them. In the current global water crisis, he juxtaposes the poor against the rich in terms of their capacity to access  clean water. He challenges us to be enablers of God’s promise of water for the poor.

02 March 2022
News
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Seven Weeks for Water campaign pre-launched with prayer service

At an online prayer service for staff held 28 February, the World Council of Churches (WCC) pre-launched the WCC Lenten campaign “Seven Weeks for Water.” Since 2008, the WCC – through its Lenten campaign – has been providing weekly theological reflections and other resources on water justice for the seven weeks of Lent. This year the focus of the campaign is on Europe.

28 February 2022
Feature story
Bangladesh water source

Climate crisis fuels existing water injustice

2021 has shown how vulnerable and unprepared even wealthy, industrialized countries are in the face of the escalating climate crisis. Devastating flooding, unprecedented heat waves and out-of-control wildfires have hit parts of Europe and North America. Yet this is just a foretaste of catastrophes that have long since become a bitter reality in other parts of the world. They are almost always a matter of too much or too little water. Yet water problems are often the result of discrimination and political failure, especially in times of climate change.

27 October 2021
News
Nile River near Cairo

As transboundary water dispute over Nile River worsens, WCC calls for prayers for peace

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.

16 July 2021