wfn.org | LWF Council Press Release No. 01-2008

["Colette Muanda" <cmu@lutheranworld.org>]

*Apologies for any double mailing, for technical reasons.

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Lutheran Leaders Say Environmental Destruction Is a Reality
Tanzanian Church Welcomes Council Meeting to Arusha

ARUSHA, Tanzania/GENEVA, 25 June 2008 (LWI) - Climate change is
a world wide problem and the melting snow on Mount Kilimanjaro is
an indication that the environment is “under stress.” The
General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Rev. Dr
Ishmael Noko made these remarks on the eve of the LWF Council
meeting taking place 25-30 June in Tanzania’s northern town of
Arusha.

Addressing media persons accredited to the Council meeting on 24
June, Noko said certain species including animals and vegetation,
as well as rivers in some cases have disappeared, thus indicating
something had gone wrong with “our environment.”

He was elaborating why the LWF in consultation with the Council
host church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT)
had chosen the theme, “Melting Snow on Mount Kilimanjaro: A
Witness of a Suffering Creation,” as the focus of this year’s
meeting of the LWF governing body. 

ELCT General Secretary Mr Bighton Killewa said although experts
may differ on whether significant amounts of snow had melted from
Mount Kilimanjaro, there was enough evidence of changes around
Africa’s highest mountain, its forests and other habitation
over the past few decades. The theme, explained the ELCT leader,
is a “signal” of the need “to take care of our
environment.” He said the Tanzanian church was honored to host
the LWF Council meeting, noting the Lutheran communion and its
140 member churches have a lot in common, irrespective of their
geographical contexts.

Noko attributed the growing global food crisis to emphasis on
bio-fuel production as well as horticultural production for
export especially in many African countries, and cited the flower
industry as one such sector. He noted that 30 years ago
multi-national bodies like the World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) were discouraging developing countries from
giving food production subsidy to farmers while developed
countries subsidized farmers and could dump cheap food in the
global South.

“There is something wrong with policies that discourage people
from using arable land for food production and use it instead to
produce export crops [that] they cannot eat such as flowers while
the same countries import food,” said Noko. Agricultural
policies must recognize that food is a right to everybody, he
stressed.
Responding to a question on the LWF’s position on the subject
of human sexuality, Noko explained the LWF had developed Proposed
Guidelines on Family, Marriage and Human Sexuality to guide the
churches’ discussion on the subject in their respective
contexts. 

Other issues that are of common concern to the LWF churches that
will be discussed at this year’s Council meeting include
poverty and its increasing impact on huge populations especially
in the global South; and illegitimate debt and the churches’
role as advocates in holding governments accountable for
illegally acquired debts. The LWF governing body will also
discuss the LWF Renewal Process; the 11th Assembly to be held in
Stuttgart Germany in 2010; and give input to a “Plenary on
Africa” to be addressed by former Tanzanian Prime Minister
Fredrick T. Sumaye.

* 	* 	*

There are an estimated 140 participants in this year’s Council
meeting including church leaders, officials from LWF partner
organizations, invited guests, stewards, interpreters and
translators, LWF staff and co-opted staff and accredited media. 

The Council is the governing body meeting between Assemblies
held every six years. The current Council was appointed at the
July 2003 Tenth Assembly in Winnipeg, Canada. It comprises the
President, Treasurer and 48 persons elected by the Assembly.
Other members include advisors, lay and ordained persons,
representing the different LWF regions. 

>LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATION
>Tel.: +41/22-791 63 69 
>Fax: +41/22-791 66 30
>Editor’s E-Mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org 

>Media contact in Arusha: +255 782 321 852