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“Hunger amidst plenty is the great contradiction of our time”, said Dr Ángel Ibarra, vice-minister of environment and natural resources of El Salvador, as he addressed participants of the World Council of Churches (WCC) “Eco-School on Water, Food and Climate Justice”, being held in San Salvador, 1-12 November.

“We must lift the veil on our beguilement with consumerist culture and materialistic values”, said Bishop Mark MacDonald, the National Indigenous Bishop of the Anglican Church of Canada and president of the World Council of Churches (WCC) for North America, as he addressed a panel promoted by the WCC at the 2018 sessions of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, held in Toronto, Canada, 1-7 November.

The WCC Executive Committee met in Uppsala, Sweden from 1-8 November to approve the 2019 programme plans and budget, follow up and decide on a variety of assembly matters, review the WCC strategic plan, discuss world affairs and issue seven statements in response to current situations. The Executive Committee also discerned the way forward for the WCC’s Communication Strategy.

Citing the latest studies from the United Nations, the WCC has sounded the alarm about immediate measures needed to prevent or mitigate the worst damage from climate change.

As churches worldwide focus on the “Action Week for Food” in October, increasing numbers of people going hungry due to violent conflicts, failed harvests and rising food costs are compelling faith-based organizations to offer urgent intervention.

Before the Community of Sant'Egidio in Bologna, Italy, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit spoke on “Poverty and Inequality in a Time of Climate Change.”

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit responded to the recently released report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on the impacts of global warming.

The 12th Assembly of the European Christian Environmental Network (ECEN) met from 6-10 October in Katowice, Poland under the theme ‘On the way to economic and ecological justice.’ The gathering drew 85 participants from 22 countries of Europe and overseas.

As bishops, women leaders and young leaders from the Anglican communion met in Hartebeespoort, South Africa, they issued a message titled “An Urgent Cry for Ecological Justice: Reclaiming the Gospel Imperative for All Creation.”

Supported by many faith groups worldwide, including the World Council of Churches (WCC), the “Living the Change” campaign is calling people of faith to reflect on their ecological footprint and take action to shrink it.

Climate change and foreign debt are intersecting human rights issues, and faith communities can contribute to better understanding and addressing these concerns, agreed many who attended a side event held on the occasion of the 39th Human Rights Council at Palais des Nations in Geneva on 18 September.

A group of ecumenical pilgrims started a journey towards the 2018 World Climate Conference hosting city Katowice, in Poland, where high level talks about the preservation of creation will take place. "Go then!" is the motto of the Ecumenical Pilgrimage for Climate Justice that took off in Bonn, Germany, on 9 September.

WCC News spoke to Rev. Henrik Grape, moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Working Group on Climate Justice. He was on his way home after attending an ecumenical gathering in Assisi.

The First Ecumenical Prayer for Creation will take place 31 August and 1 September in Assisi, Italy, the city of Francis. The two-day event is the latest sign of momentum for environmental protection growing among leaders of Christian denominations.

“Water is a gift of God, a gift of creation, and it is necessary for survival,” said World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, introducing through a video message a World Water Week public showcase on “Water and Faith: Acting in Partnership to achieve SDG 6” in Stockholm, Sweden.

The second edition of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Eco-School on Water, Food and Climate Justice will be held from 1-12 November 2018 in San Salvador, El Salvador. This year the Eco-School will focus on Latin America and the Caribbean. Applications are now open with a deadline of 31 August 2018.

The Church of England has voted to pull investments in its $8 billion fund from firms not on track to meet the provisions of the Paris Agreement on climate change by 2023. Members of the General Synod rejected a proposal to bring forward the deadline from 2023 to 2020.

Nearly three years after the publication of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ encyclical letter on the care for our common home, the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development promoted an international conference to reaffirm a sense of deep urgency and profound concern for the precarious state of our common planetary home.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has stressed that zero carbon emissions must be achieved by 2050 by the world if we are to avoid catastrophic climate impacts such severe and recurrent droughts, record-breaking storms as well as the inundation of small island states and coastal cities.

‘Walking, praying and working together’ was the theme of Pope Francis’ 21 June visit to Geneva to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the World Council of Churches (WCC). Among those listening to the Pope's words was Pentecostal pastor Rev. Frank Chikane, one of the leaders of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.