Network of Earthkeeping
Christian Communities in South Africa
NECCSA Update: October
2004
A
monthly newsletter on Church and Environment in South Africa
1.
We need your stories
One of the main aims of NECCSA is to distribute stories about Christians
involved in earthkeeping activities. We believe that this may encourage others
to envisage what they could do within their own contexts. We are also convinced
that there are many such stories of Christian earthkeeping activities. However,
these stories are not always picked up. If you know of such stories, please
forward the story so that we can enrich and pray for one another through such
stories. We do not only need stories about big and successful earthkeeping
projects. We also need to hear about environmental problems that are a cause for
concern and about our individual and collective failure to address such
problems.
You may notice that there is no such story in this edition of the NECCSA
Update. Please help us to gather a “cloud of witnesses”!
2.
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate – when tree planting is recognised as a contribution
to world peace
We
are delighted with the announcement that Prof Wangari Maathai would be receiving
the Nobel Peace Prize on 10 December this year.
In
their announcement the Norwegian
Nobel Prize Committee recognised the link between the environment and peace:
”Peace on earth depends on our ability to secure our living environment.
Maathai stands at the front of the fight to promote ecologically viable social,
economic and cultural development in Kenya and in Africa. She has taken a
holistic approach to sustainable development that embraces democracy, human
rights and women's rights in particular. She thinks globally and acts
locally.”
Deforestation
leads to the loss of topsoil and desertification, which threatens our common
life. Wangari is well known for having founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977,
where she has mobilized women to plant more that 30 million trees to date. In
1986 the Movement established a Pan African Green Belt Network and has exposed
over 40 individuals from other African counties to the approach. Some of these
individuals have established similar tree planting initiatives in their own
countries or they use some of the Green Belt Movement methods to improve their
efforts. So far some countries have successfully launched such initiatives in
Africa (Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Lesotho, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe etc.)
Wangari
has been successful at mobilising people. A
decade ago, she reflected on the accomplishments of the Green Belt Movement.
"We have raised the environmental agenda from one that concerns women and
children and unemployed men in the countryside to a national political issue.
This is very, very important because if we are going to change, everybody has to
be involved: politicians, academicians, industrialists, investors, developers --
everybody."
The
General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, Dr Sam Kobia, himself a
Kenyan, paid tribute to Wangari Maathai: "Being
the first African woman in history to receive this prestigious prize, you have
brought honour to the African continent and its people....Your campaign against
deforestation across Africa is a unique contribution not only to save African
forests, but also African lives."
Maathai has written about the church and the environment.
She wrote an article entitled “The responsibility of the church towards
the environment” which was included in a book (Together in Hope)edited by Sam
Kobia. Another contribution appears in a book
published this year entitled "Healing God's Creation". This
contribution arises out of her invitation to speak at
the Global Anglican Congress on the Stewardship of Creation, an international
gathering held near Pretoria before the World Summit on Sustainable Development
in 2002. Because of the political
developments in her country she could not attend.
However her contribution, entitled "The Beauty and Spirit of
Empowerment", was read out by a Green Belt
Movement member who attended.
In
the text, Maathai observes: "When I was a child, streams and rivers were
clean and provided safe drinking water. Lush vegetation grew along riverbanks
and bathed in the sweet waters in the streams. Rivers roared downstream and
trout danced in the cold, clean and fresh streams."
She
adds that when people make the connection between environmental degradation and
the problems which communities face every day "the God in us will move and
energize us. It will guide us from apathy to action, from being observers to
doers in the hope that those actions can make a difference."
She
adds: "Therefore, as His disciples, we set the example and are courageous
for those who need protection, fairness, justice and peace. And lest we forget
the log in our eyes, we start with ourselves: serving, standing up, empowering
others and ourselves and practicing love, compassion, justice and equity...to be
examples of what we claim the Master Himself would do."
May
Wangari’s contribution to peacemaking inspire us all.
Contribution
from Andrew Warmback
3.
Stricter enforcement of environmental legislation is needed
Here
is a press release from the Unit for Environmental Ethics (University of
Stellenbosch) on an important topic:
INADEQUATE
enforcement of appropriate legislation is one of main causes of unethical
behaviour towards the environment, claim respondents in an opinion survey
conducted by the Unit for Environmental Ethics (University of Stellenbosch) in
Cape Town and surrounds.
A
total of 94% of respondents in the survey, which included developers, government
officials, politicians, activists, researchers and consultants, called for an
environmental protection agency to be created that was able to prosecute
environmental offenders.
The
questionnaire in the opinion survey, that used the baseline of 2002, was
compiled by researchers following a series of focus group discussions with the
above-mentioned sectors. The aim was to identify the key areas of ethical
concern in Cape Town and surrounds and to recommend areas of further
investigation. It was not intended as a forensic audit.
The
report stated that a total of 76% of respondents were of the opinion that the
penalties for the enforcement of environmental legislation were not severe
enough and a total of 99% of respondents indicated that an enforceable penalty
system for environmental transgressions was needed as a solution.
Commenting
on the key findings of the report, Unit for Environmental Ethics head Prof Johan
Hattingh said: “Structural problems in environmental decision-making cause
unethical behaviour that taints all decisions that are made with the best of
intentions. This creates an ideal smokescreen behind which ruthless and/or
unscrupulous operators can take shortcuts.”
The
report suggested that an audit of environmental decision-making procedures
should be done in each of the three tiers of government. This followed concerns
that the legal and institutional framework in place for environmental
decision-making was not functioning adequately.
The
financial relationship between the developer and the consultant in Environmental
Impact Assessments caused many respondents to doubt the independence of
consultants. The report suggested that the possibility of consultants being
appointed by an independent third party needed to be investigated. This followed
a total of 96% of respondents in the opinion survey supporting the view that
consultants should be appointed by an independent third party
On
the political front, the opinion survey showed that political intervention in
legal processes like Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) was not trusted. It
was suggested that an investigation needed to be taken into the relationship
between legal processes and ministerial instruction.
Public
participation processes in EIAs also came under scrutiny. The possibility of
professionalising and accrediting public participation practitioners needed to
be researched, said the report. It was also suggested that the role of
community-based organisations in public participation processes should be
recognised.
Training
was another key item of ethical concern in the opinion survey. The report
suggested that environmental decision-making in Cape Town would be boosted if
the public, government officials and politicians all received training.
A
training “needs-analysis” for government at a national, provincial and local
level was suggested as well as training courses in environmental decision-making
for politicians. Members of the public should be educated through a capacity
building fund linked to the EIA process, read the report.
Concern
about the inability of environmental decision-makers to implement sustainable
development was also highlighted in the report. In order to ensure the effective
implementation of the principles of the National Environmental Management Act in
a developing city like Cape Town, roleplayers needed to be skilled in handling
deep-seated conflicting values.
If
you would like to read the opinion survey you are welcome to visit website www.sun.ac.za/philosophy/cae
NECCSA website address:
HYPERLINK "http: www.neccsa.org.za where membership details could
also be found. You are invited to accept ownership of this website in order to
use it to share information on Christianity and earthkeeping practices. Please
send any information to the email address below.
You are welcome to distribute this NECCSA
Update electronically to any other interested person. You are also welcome to
send news to be included in the next NECCSA update to
HYPERLINK "mailto:%20andrew.war emcemp@iafrica.com
by 5 December. You may send such contributions in the language of your choice.
Please
note that the last Update for 2004 will be distributed early in December before
the Christmas holidays.
Distributed by EM Conradie 4/11/2004