African Lutheran Church Leaders Explore Climate Change Impact on Food Security

Nairobi Meeting Will Deliberate Theological Perspectives on"Daily Bread"

Climate change,food security and poverty in Africa will be the focus topics of a consultation of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) taking place in Nairobi, Kenya, from 6-10 October. Over 50 participants from LWF member churches in Africa, field programs of the Department for World Service (DWS) and related partners will focus on the three topics under the theme "Vision,Realities and the Witness of the Church amid Crises of Climate Change, Food and Poverty."

The Africa area desk at the LWF Department for Mission and Development (DMD) is organizing the event, hosted by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya (ELCK) and Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church (KELC). The consultation comes at a significant moment in view of preparations for the July 2010 Eleventh Assembly in Stuttgart,Germany, said Rev. Dr Musa P. Filibus, DMD area secretary for Africa. "It relates closely to the Assembly theme, 'Give Us Today Our Daily Bread.'

To speak about the impact of climate change,food security and poverty is to articulate concern about the cry of the poor for daily bread and justice," he explained. The gathering will enable church leaders, theologians,development workers and partners to share experiences and deepen theological understanding of the critical issues related to climate change and food security, and the link with systemic poverty, said Filibus. Perspectives will also be shared on trade,gender justice and the role of women as agents of transformation,he explained.

The above map shows the position of Kenya in the African continent. Kenya, specifically Nairobi, still functions as the hub of East Africa

At its 2008 meeting in Arusha, Tanzania, the LWF Council urged the member churches to deepen their theological and ethical understanding on the human contribution to climate change and the global food crisis. The governing body emphasized the urgency and unprecedented magnitude of these challenges and their threat to humanity and the rest of creation. The Council called on the churches to move beyond lamentation to urgent and effective action.

Following up on the Council's action, the July 2009 meeting of the LWF Africa Region Task Force on Poverty in Johannesburg,South Africa, explored further the contextual threat of climate change including increasing floods and droughts, resulting in internal displacement of people and conflict over land. The committee underlined that climate change was resulting in unpredictable seasons, failure of harvests and a water crisis. It proposed the Nairobi follow-up consultation.

A September 2009 DWS regional consultation on food security continued this focus, calling for greater sensitivity to the vulnerability of people seeking their rights amid the crisis. The Mbabane, Swaziland, meeting attended by representatives and partners of DWS country and associate programs in Southern Africa, stated that equity in land tenure systems was key to achieving national food security.

Participants underlined the need to promote community-based solutions, and called on churches to deepen their moral and ethical understanding of food security. Still, more research and better networking are needed to influence governments to act on behalf of the poor and vulnerable hit hard by the lack of food security in the region, noted the DWS consultation.

It urged better use of climate change resources, a scaling up of disaster relief and the promotion of drought-resistant crops among other approaches.

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