wfn.org | WCC FEATURE: Losing paradise

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>World Council of Churches - Feature

>LOSING PARADISE

>For immediate release: 22 June 2010

>By Mark Beach (*)

Approaching the boat landing of the fishing village on Viwa Island  off the
coast of Suva, Fiji, it is hard to imagine a more idyllic setting  than
this South Pacific paradise filled with one stunning island view  after
another.

On the hillside overlooking the village sits a memorial church dedicated  to
the memory of a Methodist translator, John Hunt, who translated  the Bible
from Greek into Fijian more than 150 years ago and who still is  revered by
the villagers.

In the evening dusk the chapel glows like a beacon across the water.
Nestled on the lush slopes leading down to the shore are the homes  of the
110 hearty souls who call Viwa home.

It is here in late May that a four-person World Council of Churches  (WCC)
Living Letters delegation were hosted by the villagers of Viwa who  shared
with the group their growing concerns in regard to how the shifting  global
climate and rising sea levels from melting polar ice packs are impacting
this small community.

The island itself is small, taking the delegation no more than 15-20
minutes to circumnavigate in an eight-seater boat with an outboard  motor.
Climatic changes far from here are having an impact on places such  as
this, and that is why the Living Letters came to listen and show
solidarity with the community.

The WCC Living Letters are small ecumenical teams that visit a country  to
listen, learn and examine approaches to problems and help confront
challenges in order to overcome violence and promote peace. In the  context
of Fiji, the group was exploring how violence against nature through  CO2
emissions, land misuse, pollution and other development and lifestyle
issues have impact on the world’s climate. In addition to  spending 24
hours on Viwa, the team also met with church and government leaders  in
Suva, the capital of Fiji.

The only time to approach the Viwa dock is during high tide. At  the peak of
low tide during mid-day in late May, the tranquil waters retreat  as much
as a kilometre or more at some points exposing expansive and seemingly
formidable mud flats.

The daily ritual of this impressive movement of the sea sets the  rhythm of
life for the villagers. One must move quickly in the morning to  catch the
last boat out before the waters near the shore become too shallow  and
eventually recede.

Once the tide is out, life under the intense tropical sun adjusts  to a
slower pace waiting to resume more robust activity as the water  faithfully
returns later in the afternoon.

>"The sea is eating up the shore line"

Surrounded by this beauty and rhythm, it is hard to imagine what  might
upset the balance of life in Viwa until Ratu Isikeli Komaisavai,  the
village coordinator for development projects, reveals that climate  change
is transforming their lives. “The sea is eating up the shore  line and
coastline,” he said.

And he is right, as evidenced along the steep slopes of the island  where in
a variety of places there are freshly exposed earthen cliffs, fallen  trees
and reportedly a water line that appears to be rising higher each  year.

This tiny piece of paradise is slowly being eaten away by the impact  of
events far from these shores. “The biggest threat to us  is climate
change,” Komaisavai said.

While the village sits on the leeward side of the island, the increasingl y
frequent typhoons and hurricanes assaulting Fiji and other South  Pacific
nations are slowly stealing away islands like Viwa. But the change  is more
than coastal erosion.

Changes in temperature mean “crops are not ripe at the regular  times of
the year”, Komaisavai said, echoing the experience of some  of the Living
Letters team members who came from Greenland, Tanzania, Greece and
Argentina.

Bishop Sofie Petersen, who joined the delegation from Greenland,  told a
group of village elders that increases in temperatures mean the  sheep
farmers of southern Greenland experience an extended grazing season;
others, further to the north, are seeing a melting ice pack change  social
and economic life.

Delegation member Elias C. Abramides from Argentina told villagers  that he
recently became aware of harvests occurring later in Argentina and  that
while farmers at first could not explain this phenomenon, the change  is
now being attributed to climate change.

It is in the South Pacific region surrounding Fiji where climate  change
becomes more than a mere discussion about erosion and rising sea  levels.
More and more, the urgency for government and church leaders in  the region
concerns the impact on people, particularly those who will have  to be
resettled.

“Being a church leader is important here,” said  Fe'iloakitau Kaho Tevi,
general secretary of the Pacific Council of Churches (PCC), when  the
Living Letters team met with the deputy secretary general of the  Pacific
Island Forum, Feleti P. Teo.

For Tevi this means the church has a role in the “who, when,  where, how
and why” as people will need to be resettled from islands  such as the
Tuvalu atoll which is the most widely-watched nation under threat  of
rising sea levels.

The church is moving forward with initiatives such as reforestation  to
prevent erosion during heavy rains. “The second initiative  is about
building seawalls, and that is being taken by the government and  local
villages,” the Rev. Dr Tuikilakila Wagairatu, general secretary  of the
Methodist Church in Fiji, said in a meeting with the Living Letters  team.

Only recently did the national leaders within the Pacific Island  Forum
(PIF), which comprises representatives of nearly every national  government
in the region, seem ready to address the issue of resettlement and
relocation.

“The language of the Forum has changed,” the PIF’ s Teo said. “The
relocation phase has been entered now, and the reality has dawned  on the
leaders.”

Right now the PIF has no formal position on resettlement. Discussions  have
yet to take place on the issue of the law of the seas and national
interests, so these have not been clearly defined, according to  Teo.

It wasn’t until he attended the climate change meetings  in Copenhagen
last December that the newly appointed Fijian Minister for Local
Government, Urban Development, Housing and Environment, Samuela  Saumatua,
realized the urgency of the climate change issue for the region.  “It is
no longer just an academic exercise,” he said.

“We don’t even have a climate change policy,”  Saumatua said of the
Fijian government. Under his leadership a national policy is being  formed,
with the participation of the Pacific Council of Churches. Saumatua  met
with the Living Letters team for nearly an hour and encouraged them  to
help churches to become more aware of the issues related to climate
change.

>"Climate change-competent churches"

In an earlier discussion with Methodist general secretary Wagairatu,  the
Living Letters team discussed the possibility of developing “clim ate
change-competent churches” along the lines of the WCC’s  programme of
developing “AIDS-competent churches” throughout  Africa.

For the PCC and the Living Letters team, the report on the government�� �s
emerging national policy on climate change was encouraging news.

Meanwhile, attempts to stop erosion and turn back the impact of  more and
more intense tropical storms may not come in time to help Viwa Island.

“The Pacific people face a real threat with little resources,�� �
Komaisavai said to the group on their arrival in Viwa. While most  homes
remain safe today, there was concern about the erosion near the  church
pastor’s residence which sits several metres outside the  main cluster of
homes and near a seaside cliff.

Before leaving Viwa, the Living Letters teams took a 15-minute walk  toward
the other side of the island to a spot where the 19th-century Bible
translator John Hunt used to pray.  This spot now holds significance  for
the villagers, and even more so as they realize that their island  is
slowly being whittled away. The group prayed for Viwa.

For Viwa, as for many other named and unnamed islands in the South  Pacific,
the rising ocean waters, the more intense storms and the changes  in
harvesting times for crops all signal a pending disaster that, unless
addressed soon on a global scale, could bring an end to paradise.

(*) Mark Beach is WCC director of communications.

>[1'344 words]

Report of the Living Letters visit to Fiji (pdf, 6.5 MB) (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=55c87aeda1cfda6a61e8 -
WCC Living Letters to the Pacific Churches - May 2010.pdf )

Photo gallery (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=d509c04069 
7f5445ed55
)

WCC member churches in Fiji (Link:

http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=94eaec541a142918d504 )

WCC work on climate change (Link:

http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=d961b146548f9d98dac5 )

Opinions expressed in WCC Features do not necessarily reflect WCC  policy.
This material may be reprinted freely, providing credit is given  to the
author.

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.