News

Green Anglicans at the Adaptation Futures Conference   Adaptation Futures is the world’s premier conference on climate change adaptation. 1300 scientists, practitioners, business leaders and policymakers from around the world are connecting to learn and inspire. Adaptation Futures 2018 aims to facilitate dialogues for solutions between key actors from diverse perspectives and regions.   This is the first time the conference is held on the African continent. The Goal is to use this setting to foreground developing country adaptation issues and increase developing world and African participation.   Rev Dr Rachel Mash (Provincial Environmental Coordinator) and Mncedisi Masuku (Diocese of Swaziland – Eswatini) presented a session on the Role of Faith Based Organisations in Adaptation.   Rev Rachel presented on the reasons why the faith communities have an important role to play in Adaptation (full text below) and Mncedisi shared about the projects in the Diocese:water harvesting, food gardens, tree planting, rocket stoves, wonder bags etc   The key points of all the sessions are being collated for possible inclusion in the IPCC report on the Africa chapter #greenanglicans #AF2018   FULL TEXT OF SESSION   The role of Faith Based Organisations in Adaptation THE ROLE OF FAITH BASED ORGANISATIONS IN ADAPTATION “I used to think the top environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change. I thought that with 30 years of good science we could address those problems. But I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy… …and to deal with those we need a spiritual and sculptural transformation and we scientists don’t know how to do that.” Gus Speth, former advisor to Bill Clinton   Do Faith based organisations have a role to play in adaptation to Climate Change? Everywhere you go in Africa from the smallest village to the largest city there are churches and other faith groups. Can the social and spiritual power of the Churches and other faiths in Africa be harnessed to combat climate change? There is no doubt that faith based organisations have a great potential to have an impact.   Faith based organisations have a high standing in the community and are in touch with the local culture and local leadership. Churches and mosques are able to work effectively in the community, since there are faith communities in each community, with infrastructure, a potential pool of volunteers and an ethic that calls for transformational actions. Programmes can be developed at the local level and according to local culture. Faith communities are accessible. They are to found in the most remote rural village, in the poorest peri-urban community and in the wealthiest suburb. Projects based in faith communities are affordable. Members are often motivated by their faith and willing to volunteer their time and resources. This avoids the set up costs that an external organisation would have to spend. They tend to be pro-poor and will allocate resources towards the marginalized. Faith communities often have access to resources such as a meeting place, kitchen, toilets etc.   Faith communities are acceptable: they are locally based with well understood norms and values; and they have a high level of acceptability, sometimes higher than state or foreign organisations. They are well grounded and deeply conversant with local culture. Religion promotes a culture of respect for the sacredness of life, which is radically undermined by environmental degradation. They inspire levels of trust and confidence unmatched by government or secular organisations, so they have the potential to mobilise communities into action   Faith communities can have a positive role in facilitating behaviour change. They have a large constituency and often a ‘captive audience’ on a weekly basis. This leads to opportunities for information and teaching. The Scriptures of all major religions have key texts on being stewards of the Earth and the moral dangers of greed and abuse of the poor and the earth.   However there are many challenges to getting faith based organisations involved in adaptation programmes.   Churches and religious leaders are very busy with church matters, there is limited time and staff to run projects. Some question whether the environment should be added to the social justice agenda of the church. There seem to be so many “far more urgent” issues such as poverty, unemployment, education, housing, AIDS and crime?   Other challenges are theological; – Many Christians feel that the church should primarily be concerned with the message of individual salvation and evangelism. Our relationship with God is more important than “secular issues” such as the environment. Others believe that the Earth has been given to us by God to use as we desire. A favorite verse is Genesis 1:26, “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over it.”   Some Christians believe that material possessions are a sign of God’s blessing. God wants us to prosper at all costs, even at the cost of the environment. There is a big movement in churches called the Prosperity Gospel that equates prosperity with material consumption.   And finally some Christians are worried about environmentalism being “New Age”. They are afraid of a shift towards pantheism (the belief that nature is divine) or paganism.   So let us turn to examine a case study of one Church which is having an environmental impact.   The Anglican Church of Southern Africa comprises of six countries: South Africa, Swaziland, Angola, Mozambique Lesotho and Namibia. An environmental desk (ACSAEN) was established in and known informally as the Green Anglicans movement. (www.greenanglicans.org). Starting with an environmental spirituality, this has led to practical projects.   What have they done to develop an environmental spirituality – a caring for the whole of Creation? The Anglican Church globally has identified environmental ministry as a core part of its mission. As far back as 1984 the Anglican Church globally identified the Fifth mark of mission “ To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and to sustain and

DIOCESE OF SWAZILAND AND MNCEDISI MASUKU CHAMPIONS AGAIN IN ESWATINI The kingdom of Eswatini (Swaziland) had its National Temvelo Awards event on Monday 18th June 2018 held in Royal Convention Center where individuals and Organizations that has contributed in environmental initiatives were awarded. The Diocese of Swaziland has been awarded to be the Environmentally Active Faith Based Organization in the Kingdom while our Green Anglican Mncedisi Masuku has been awarded to be the Young Eco-Hero. This was the second edition of the Temvelo Awards which started in 2016 where both parties took the same awards. The Diocese of Swaziland and Masuku remains the historic champions in the kingdom for the said categories. Mncedisi was represented by Ndumiso Malindzisa in the event as he in Cape Town for Adaptation futures Conference. The Environmentally Active faith based Organization recognizes a faith based organization that has contributes towards protecting or improving the environment in terms of participating in activities that improve the quality of the environment and yield sustainable benefits for local communities. On the other hand, the Young Eco-Hero Award is given to a young person that is passionate and have understanding of environmental issues and has ability to inspire students or young people in matters of environmental management. Congratulation to the Diocese of Swaziland and its own Mncedisi for shinning. We are Green Anglicans and we Care for Creation. By Reverend Z. Sigudla, Diocesan Environmental Chaplain.

As it is written in Psalm 24:1 that “The Earth is the Lord’s, and all living in it! This report reflects on the mini-eco conference hosted and held by the Diocese of Botswana youth at St. Augustine’s Serowe on the 8-10 June 2018. Young people from all over the diocese of Botswana gathered together at Serowe for the conference for the love of God, creation and the environm ent. Therefore, these are the activities which we have engaged in to portray the love and care for the environment. On Saturday 9th June 2018, all the young people gathered up at the Serowe Bus rank and shopping complex, where we were litter picking in groups (3 groups) and also some evangelisation at the same time. It portrayed a good image to us as the young people because we were also joined by the diocesan youth chaplain the Revd. Bonny Bashe. We gathered up the litter in black bags where the municipal truck came and collected the full refuse bags when we were done. After we returned back to St. Augustine’s, where we were exercising our second task which was the tree planting. It is actually a good experience, when we have church members who have the full knowledge about the life of the plants and nature, to be present and also to give their knowledge about tree planting. We had a congregant of St Augustine’s who is working at the department of forestry, who donated the refuse bags and gloves for the litter picking. Before the planting (25 trees were to be planted), he gave us an orientation of how must a tree or a plant should be planted, the chaplain blessed the trees before they could be planted,. It was a privilege to me to plant the first tree within the church yard together with the diocesan Mother’s Union Ms Agnes Ncaagae. After the planting of 6 trees within the church yard, the rest of the trees were planted at the gathering places of the tribal councils according to wards in Serowe and the other trees were to be planted at St Augustine’s Primary school. It had a positive impact because one of the community leaders came to St. Augustine’s to join us for the rest of the conference. I later gave a talk (presentation) about how the young people could be engaged in various programmes and be able to come up with initiatives to emphasise that Botswana diocese cares for the environment. The young people were interested because after the session I came across various questions about how can they start up these initiatives and also how are they being portrayed within the church calendar. It reflected to me that the young people of Botswana do have a huge interest in uplifting the environmental ministry. Surprisingly good, on Sunday after the service, one of the MU congregants also from St Augustine’s, donated indoor and outdoor plants to the young people according to their respective parishes. On our way back to Gaborone from Serowe, we stopped by the Tropic of Capricorn monument with the intention of taking pictures. It was sad to find that one of the most important international tourist site was surrounded by litter and it was unattractive and people were still continuing with littering. Goats and dogs were eating from the litter. As I said in my presentation that “The love of the environment begins with you as an individual then one can be able to teach others. It is so because cleanliness is next to Godliness!” We then picked up every litter and lowered down the overflowing dustbins and poured the litter inside four refuse bags. People who were there commended us for the good work which we did. In general, it was a fantastic conference and also it was good to meet and have lovely conversations with the young people whom are willing and committed in working for the Lord. Ramusi Makwetsa

The Kingdom of Eswatini had its commemoration of World Environment Day under the theme, “Beat Plastic Pollution” held in Sibane hotel in form a Symposium. Plastic pollution is a problem in the country and numerous education and campaigns and policies has been put to place trying to address the problem but it still persist. The topic of the Day was to find the open tap that is flooding the whole room and get it closed before mopping or whipping the room. The above stated examples of clean-up campaigns has been seen to be nothing more than a mop trying to wipe the floor while the tap is still open. Different speakers made submissions on the topic of plastic and it has been discovered to be a big industry that has employed people and is paying taxes in the country which gives classical conflict of interest in identifying the tap. The question that was not answered was if Banning Plastic Bags is the tap, or introducing Plastic levy/taxes, or continue with advocacy (appeal to conscience with the hope people will refuse to use plastic even if provided) and/or recycling. The country has a long journey to go in identifying the tap to get it shut than continuing with mopping a flooded room while the tap is still running water to the floor. One member of Parliament (Hon. Salodin Magagula) in the event submitted that, “The Constitution of the Kingdom of eSwatini Act No. 1 of 2005, s.64 states that it is the duty of every citizen to protect and safeguard the environment. The Constitution further demands of every ministry environmental management strategy. As Parliament, we will have to ensure that those ministries that fail to comply to this legal obligation are not allowed to sit in parliament nor to get a budget before complying”. But still the question remains, “where is the Tap?” The Green Anglicans in the Diocese of Swaziland continues to partner with other organisation on environment issues as it has participated in this year’s World Environment Day Commemoration as organised by Swaziland Environment Authority (SEA). Mncedisi Masuku – Diocese of Swaziland