wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Christian commitment at World People's Conference on Climate Change

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>World Council of Churches - News

AT PEOPLE'S CONFERENCE, CHRISTIANS COMMIT TO HELP MOTHER EARTH

>For immediate release: 22 April 2010

In an ecumenical declaration to be presented at the final session  of the
World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother
Earth, Christian organizations and individuals stress the positive  role
that religions and spirituality can play for a more harmonious coexistenc e
between humanity and nature.

The 19-22 April conference in Cochabamba is hosted by Bolivian president
Evo Morales. Over 10,000 people are attending, according to media  reports,
many of them from indigenous peoples and environmentalist networks.

The closing session will be held on International Mother Earth Day,  22
April. This yearly event was introduced by the United Nations General
Assembly in 2009, adopting a Bolivia-led resolution.

"Climate change is the product of a human mentality which regards  nature as
an object of domination, exploitation and manipulation and the human  being
as its owner and the measure of all things," the ecumenical declaration
states.

Its signatories "recognize that a certain interpretation of the
Judeo-Christian tradition has contributed to fostering this kind  of
anthropocentrism and merciless exploitation of nature, misinterpreting  the
responsibility of being a 'caretaker' and advocate for the creation,
entrusted to humanity by the creator."

The declaration goes on to call for a new spirituality of respectful
co-existence, to be forged in a dialogue among the peoples of the  earth.
It is part of the contribution a coalition of Christian organizations
brought to the conference.

The coalition also organized panels on religions - especially Christianit y
- and climate change and the presentation of recent publications  on the
topic. It includes the World Council of Churches (WCC) and its Bolivian
member churches as well as the Latin American Council of Churches  (CMI),
and is coordinated by the Andean Ecumenical Higher Institute of  Theology
(ISEAT).

"The People's Conference was an opportunity to listen to those who  will be
most affected by climate change," said Dr Guillermo Kerber, WCC  programme
executive on climate change. "The WCC sees it as an instrument to  build a
global consensus on climate change and put forward the perspective  of
actors who have not been heard enough in the United Nations negotiation
process – such as the indigenous peoples."

(Link:

http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=4937c22af42d3bf8ddac
)
Full text of the declaration (in Spanish) (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=49dcd1aa31cb3b60b6d1
)

WCC work on climate change (Link:

http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=a772f51fb74dc5aa27b0 )

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,  witness and 
service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship  of churches 
founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant,
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560  million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the  Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse  Tveit, from 
the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.