WCC NEWS: Water conflicts pose threat to global peace

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World Council of Churches - News

WATER CONFLICTS POSE THREAT TO GLOBAL PEACE

For immediate release: 04 July 2011

Conflicts over water threaten peace in the world, the general secretary
of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, told
a gathering in Germany on the banks of the River Danube to mark the end of
the WCC’s Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV).

“It may well be that in the coming years water will be at the centre of
conflicts,” Tveit told the Danube Peace Wave event in Ulm on 2 July.

The Peace Wave project was launched in Ulm in September 2010 and was
followed by events along the River Danube in Austria, Slovakia, Hungary
and Romania. It was intended as a contribution to and celebration of the
WCC’s Decade to Overcome Violence.

The anti-violence decade started in Berlin in 2001 and culminated at an
International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) in Jamaica in May 2011.
Water was one of the issues that emerged at the convocation as a source of
potential conflict in the world.

“The WCC is supporting the Ecumenical Water Network as one of many steps
that demonstrate a link between peace with nature, and peace between
peoples who find themselves in conflict over vital resources,” said
Tveit.

In a sermon at the cathedral of Ulm, Tveit highlighted the conflict between
Israelis and Palestinians as an issue underlying almost all the conflicts
in the Middle East and into Asia.

In the Middle East as well, he said, “the unjust occupation and use of
water is one of the issues in the conflict between Israelis and
Palestinians”.

Tveit said Christians everywhere have a role to play in the search for a
just peace in Israel and Palestine. “What we believe, what we say, can
be a contribution to peace and justice – or to something else
entirely,” he said.

The WCC he said has launched an Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in
Palestine and Israel through which volunteer accompaniers observe and
understand the consequences of injustice and violence.

The International Ecumenical Peace Convocation in Kingston, Jamaica,
brought together a thousand individuals working for peace and justice from
over a hundred countries. As well as celebrating the achievements of the
WCC’s Decade to Overcome Violence, the IEPC also encouraged churches and
individuals to renew their commitment to nonviolence, peace and justice.
“The issue of peace is an issue for all of us. It starts with us, and our
daily interaction with other human beings. It is about the effects of our
lifestyle on others,” said Tveit.

“And to return to the issue of water: our high water usage has an impact
on the water economy that in many places is getting out of balance. And we
can observe the same thing about food, energy, and the monetary
economy.”

Full text of Tveit's sermon (in German) (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=f4e050149f275f3d7678
)

IEPC message (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=97dae820d821c78f0452
)

Website of the Danube Wave of Peace:
www.donaufriedenswelle.eu (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=65578110149410b2fec3 )

Website of the Ecumenical Water Network:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=478a28da4d2ceaed0592 (Link: 
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=027b7d6337343911a34c
)

Website of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel:
www.eappi.org (Link: 
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=d59d0f4c002496eb7876 )

Website of the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation:
www.overcomingviolence.org (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=1cc07b75bab10c44182d )

Video on water workshop at the IEPC (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=79f2cc54ca210f32b4ff )


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.



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