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By Juan Michel (*)

In Haiti, "the deadliest form of violence is extreme poverty, and the grimmest insecurity is food insecurity," according to a Living Letters team who visited the Caribbean nation on behalf of the World Council of Churches (WCC) last November.

For the first time, the All Africa Conference of Churches gave prominent space to the water and environmental crises at its general assembly in Maputo, Mozambique, 7-12 December .

By Peter Kenny (*)

Radical changes and tangible commitments from world leaders are needed if an equitable and sustainable global economic system is to be built, says an ecumenical delegation attending a UN conference on financing for development starting tomorrow in Qatar.

At the 16-21 November United Nations Advocacy Week of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Christians from the Pacific islands have appealed for worldwide solidarity with regard to climate change, a question of life and death in their communities.

For one billion of the world population, "living with constant hunger" is "a normal state". However, there is nothing normal about that fact, which is "a result of the ways our societies have chosen to produce, share, buy and sell food".

The latest issue of the "Contact" magazine, jointly produced by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the UN Standing Committee on Nutrition (SCN), addresses the current food price crises from various angles. A wide range of authors provide a broad perspective on the causes of the crisis and ideas for advocacy and action to counter it.

"Please remind the world that we are no longer at war," a high-ranking government official from Sierra Leone told an international ecumenical team visiting churches and ecumenical organizations in Liberia and Sierra Leone from 2 to 8 November.

There is a "gradual retreat of neoliberalism" in the region, according to participants in a Latin America and Caribbean ecumenical consultation to examine the links between poverty, wealth and ecology.

"Our world may soon have a billion people living with constant hunger but we produce enough food to feed double the current global population if everyone shared equally," said Archbishop Desmond Tutu as G8 leaders prepare to meet in Japan. "World leaders must seek justice in solutions to the food crisis that now faces us."

With an estimated 850 million people suffering from hunger worldwide, nine out of ten of which live in developing countries, "the scandal of hunger demands the immediate attention of the churches", affirmed today in a statement the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia.

By Jean Blaylock (*)

Calling for alternatives to enforced free trade, churches and church-related organizations world-wide, along with other religious groups and community partners, are gearing up for the Trade Week of Action, 14-21 October.