LAST week I joined over 60 leaders and representatives of Fijian faith communities, vulnerable communities, civil society, non-governmental organisations, academics, government, inter-governmental and regional organisations at the 2016 Ecumenical Deliberative Forum on Rethinking and Reclaiming the Commons for Our Common Home, held at the Novotel Lami.
The term “Commons” refers to a common heritage and a traditional understanding food security, freshwater, genetic commons, communal lands, the atmosphere, the oceans and the outer space.
The ecumenical deliberative forum was an expanded form of the annual Rev Paula Niukula Lecture, held by the Ecumenical Centre for Research, Education and Advocacy (ECREA). The forum was a partnership between ECREA, UNDP and the World Association for Christian Communication — Pacific.
Rev Niukula was the founder of the Fiji Council of Churches Research Group, which evolved into ECREA. He was also involved in the setting up of the Citizens Constitutional Forum (CCF) and Inter-Faith Search Fiji.
“I find it fitting that this ecumenical gathering is the legacy of someone who opened his eyes to the wider and deeper dimensions of the Christian faith, in a pluralistic society and the demands which that faith makes on us as we live in a rapidly changing world,” said Rev Dr Tevita Banivanua.
“Indeed I am not only here to make an opening speech but demonstrate as one called to leadership in a Christian community, my commitment to this legacy and that of the Methodist Church in Fiji to ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue and cooperation that is very much needed if the faith communities of Fiji are to make a significant contribution to the challenges facing our land today.”
He also shared a question that has recently been asked, “how do religious communities, in a time of religious pluralism and of religious justification of all manner of atrocities, contribute authentically to the public good? How do we do that?”
“How do we move beyond our differences, whether they are real or whether they are perceived — to act for the common good? In the Christian community, the term we give to the search for visible and practical unity among churches, is ecumenism. It’s part of the name of the organisation which has brought us together – the Ecumenical Centre for Research, Education and Advocacy.”
“But ecumenism has a deeper meaning if we go back to the greek origin of the word Oikoumene which has the root Oikos: the household — which can also be understood as the whole inhabited earth… But it is not the only term which has Oikos at its root.
“The words economy (oikos-nomos, meaning —the proper management of the household), ecology (oikos-logos, meaning — the studied knowledge of our planetary household), and ecumenicity (oikou-menikos, meaning an openness to the worldwide household) all share a basic orientation to home.”
A recent opinion article in the Huffington Post commented that economics no longer deals with the whole household-with the economic subsystem’s impact on society as a whole and its social, ecological, cultural context. The current focus on economics alone has led to the dangerous assumption that the household is only made up of one room.
“Humankind has disconnected economics, ecology, and morality with devastating consequences. We have forgotten that an eco-system is a system whose elements interact with their surroundings, the ecological, social, intellectual, and spiritual context as a unit — the whole household. Friends, now is the time for us to come out of our different rooms in God’s household and discuss the state of the house.
“We must consider that environmental crisis — such as droughts and cyclones we have been experiencing and climate change are part of a more general economic, socio-political and spiritual crisis.
“We are here because the Household of God is being exploited; exploited in ways that we have not been able to fully understand. What we do understand is the result of this exploitation.”
The forum provided a unique opportunity for leaders and representatives of different communities to commit to working together to stop the damage being inflicted on our ‘household’ and to work to restore that household.
Participants heard from a wide number of stakeholders including UNDP, the National Disaster Management Office, Ministry of Health, Pacific Conference of Churches, Pacific Islands Development Forum, Churches, theologians and civil society. Presentations covered climate change and climate justice, disaster risk reduction and health and wellness issues.
Archbishop Peter Loy Chong of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Suva, presented on Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si: On Care For Our Common Home”, which is a comprehensive response to climate change and draws on a wide range of research and sources from scientists to Muslim Sufi mystics.
Archbishop Chong echoed the sentiments of his Methodist colleague and challenged the forum to ground their spirituality in concrete action, by committing to an ecological conversion of understanding ourselves as a responsible part of creation, called to stewardship of our common home. The forum affirmed that affirm that “the earth is our common home and is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us”. We also affirm that “we must individually and collectively respond to the challenge to work together for the common good — the greater good — to ensure that the land and sea is not raped; to ensure that the vulnerable among us retain their dignity; and to speak with one voice to the suffering that our environment and our communities are experiencing.”
The following priorities were identified which must be addressed as part of any meaningful community and national engagement on the issue of climate change:
* Behavioural Change
* Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation
* Lack of Awareness and Practical Response
* Collective integration approach
* Economic Development
* Poverty — physical & spiritual
* Emissions
* Water and food security
* Psycho- social impact
* Migration and Relocation
* Loss of identity and value and migration
* Resistance / Approach
The forum called for inclusion of all sectors of the community in these existing frameworks to increase the sharing of crucial information and participation in decision-making to ensure that all voices from the community are heard and that sustainable and practical responses to climate change can take place.
They also affirmed the Suva Declaration’s call “for greater involvement of communities, civil society (including women, youth, and persons with disabilities) and the private sector,” as equal partners in climate change responses and initiatives and, seek meaningful participation of faith communities as the largest interest groups in our nation.
Participants explored alternative options as well as what we must be willing to sacrifice today for the future and what we — individually and collectively — can contribute in order to protect our common home from the ravages of humankind and nature.
The framework developed at the conclusion of the forum includes:
? Access to shelter and protection for vulnerable communities (people with disabilities, women, children, the elderly and sexual minorities) during times of natural disaster.
? Intergenerational learning to share heritable (traditional) knowledge of environmentally sustainable practices for food security, preparation for natural disasters etc.
? A shift from unsustainable development to environment-oriented and ethically sustainable development.
? Support for sustainable sea transport.
? Reduction on dependence of fossil fuel and support and investment in renewable energy options.
? Holistic education on climate change and stewardship of the environment.
? Partnership and collaboration with all sectors to ensure participation in decision-making processes at national and local government level.
? Addressing the issue of imported genetically-modified food and material.
Participants collectively committed to a number of actions to care for “our common home” and called for all faith communities and civil society to make the following commitments:
? Reducing, reusing, recycling and ethically disposing of our waste.
? Lobbying for consistency in enforcement of environmental laws and stronger penalties for public littering and industrial pollution legislation.
? Giving our hands and voices to stop the use of non-biodegradable plastic bags, bottles and products and to promote the use of eco-bags and traditional bags, by the end of 2016.
? Initiating more projects and programs on reducing, reusing, recycling non-bio-degradable waste.
? Being and promoting the change from excessive lifestyle and consumer-oriented culture to healthy lifestyles and cultures that promote moderate living.
They also committed to, “continue to talanoa together, to cry together, to dream together, to plan and to act to restore our common home.”
The work now begins on restoring our common home. But it can only be done if all of us, regardless of what room we call ours, commit to the whole household.
n Rev. Bhagwan is an ordained Methodist minister and a citizen journalist. The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Methodist Church in Fiji or this newspaper.