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At an event called “Ecumenical Continuing Formation: Youth, Transformative Masculinity 

and Femininity,” young people from the Pacific gathered from 15-19 November, both online and in-person, to express their honest feelings about the issues most important to them.

 

Young people in the Pacific region shared their unique ecological insights, along with their passion for change, at the World Council of Churches (WCC) Eco-School on Water, Food and Climate Justice in February.

The fourth edition of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Eco-School on Water, Food and Climate Justice will be held 18-24 January 2021 in the Pacific region in five countries (Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Tuvalu & Solomon Islands).

In a regional training workshop coordinated by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Council for World Mission, more than 40 participants from 10 nations in the Pacific examined situ-ations where people start life without a nationality, or can become stateless during their lifetimes.

A World Council of Churches (WCC) webinar held on 2 December explored the theme “Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination in the Pacific". Participants asks challenging questions such as: What is institutional racism? What is unconscious racism?

In a daylong meeting on 24 September entitled: “Climate Emergency: Faith-based Organizations Raising Ambition - Leaving No One Behind,” representatives from dozens of churches and organizations from across the world gathered to explore their role in stemming climate change and the human suffering it is already causing.

Lors d’une réunion d’une journée le 24 septembre, intitulée «Urgence climatique: des organisations confessionnelles aspirent à plus – Ne laisser tomber personne», des représentants de dizaines d’Églises et d’organisations du monde entier se sont réunis pour examiner leur rôle dans la lutte contre le changement climatique et la souffrance humaine qu’il cause déjà.

It is midnight and the sun just about hides for a little while beneath the horizon. The calm sea is scattered with icebergs in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Some are like five-story buildings, with vertical sharp-edged walls rising high above the surface. Others are more like snow-capped hilltops, slowly ploughing through the blank water.

An ecumenical delegation led by the World Council of Churches (WCC) met first minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon, in Bonn, Germany, to share concerns over rising sea levels and increasingly severe droughts and storms that are putting into question the very survival of people in the British Commonwealth of Tuvalu.

In a sermon during a worship service for climate justice in Bonn, Germany, on 12 November, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit called for wisdom. “There is a need for wisdom, a desperate need for wisdom in our world today,” he said, “a wisdom that is seeing and understanding the reality, discerning the times in which we live, and a wisdom that has the courage to say that something was wrong, the courage to act in a new way, preparing for the future together.”

Dans un sermon lors d’un service de culte pour la justice climatique à Bonn, en Allemagne, le 12 novembre dernier, le secrétaire général du Conseil œcuménique des Églises, le pasteur Olav Fykse Tveit, a plaidé pour la sagesse.

“A 2-degree Celsius increase in temperature will still mean the disappearance of our islands and homes, and consequently the death of our identity, language and culture,” said Rev. Tafue Lusama, general secretary of the Tuvalu Christian Church, speaking at a side event organised by the World Council of Churches, Bread for the World, ActionAid, and Climate Action Now-South Asia at the 23rd Conference of Parties (COP 23) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). COP 23 is currently underway in Bonn, Germany from 6-17 November.

For Pacific island nations, climate change is more than a political concern - it’s rapidly leading to extinction of peoples, lands and a way of life. In one of the biggest examples of environmental injustice in the world, the Pacific region is extremely vulnerable to climate change, despite contributing minimally to global greenhouse gas emissions.

“Creation is God’s work, every day, according to Luther. Creation ultimately belongs to God. We are accountable to God for what we do as partners in God’s creation, as deacons of God’s creation. Do we bring hope for human beings and the whole of creation? This is the question we in the Christian Church must ask one another,” said WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

In a high level panel on Climate Change and Human Rights held at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said that despite all negative conditions “we have the right to hope” – not as a matter of passive waiting but as an active process towards justice and peace, in which human rights should play a key role.

Indigenous peoples have a role to play in the struggle against climate change, indigenous faith leaders said during a panel at the Interfaith Summit on Climate Change held at the Church Center for the United Nations in New York City.

Tandis que des centaines de milliers de gens défilaient dans les rues de New York pour réclamer des mesures face aux changements climatiques, trente dignitaires représentant neuf religions apposaient leur nom à une déclaration appelant à agir concrètement pour limiter les émissions de carbone.

To raise awareness of the impact of climate change, representatives of churches, ecumenical organizations and the United Nations stood together in the sea in Apia, Samoa, in prayerful solidarity with those vulnerable to rising sea-levels and extreme weather events.

Plans are advancing for the Interfaith Summit on Climate Change, to be held in New York from 21 to 22 September. A new website featuring interfaith perspectives on climate change, highlighting the upcoming summit, has recently gone online.