Network of Earthkeeping Christian Communities in South Africa

PATRONS

Prof Denise Ackermann

Bishop Mvume Dandala

Prof Inus Daneel

Father Richard Menatsi

Rev Dr Molefe Tsele

GOVERNING BOARD

Vacant (Chairperson)

Bishop Geoff Davies (Deputy-Chairperson)

Prof Ernst Conradie (Executive Secretary)

Rev Andrew Warmback (Treasurer)

and regional reporters

The Earth Belongs to God: Some African Church Perspectives on the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) 2002 and beyond[i]

"The Earth is the Lord's and all that is in it, the world and those who live in it; for he has founded it on the seas and established it on the rivers.

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?

Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully.

They will receive blessing from the Lord, and vindication from the God
of their salvation." (Ps. 24: 1-5)

In the household of God (oikos) the management of the house (economy)
has to be based on the logic of the house (ecology).

1. In Africa today, it does not appear as if the earth belongs to God.
Instead, it belongs to:

Governors who control the earth's resources often for their own benefit;
Business and industry, Trans-National Corporations (TNC's), the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), the forces of globalization[ii] that control the global economy in their own interest;
Developers whose development[iii] projects do not benefit local communities;
The affluent 20% of the world's population who own 80% of the world's resources;
Industrialists whose factories pollute the environment at the expense of the poor;
Men;[iv]
Foreign investors who are more interested in profits on their investments than in poverty eradication and in the impact of debt on poor countries;[v]
The affluent and not the meek who will inherit the earth (Mt. 5:3-5).

2. God has entrusted the land and all its natural resources to all people to care for, keep and use it within communities. This requires a vision of sustainable[vi] communities[vii] in which there will be:

A just sharing of the earth's resources;
A working together in community;
Participation of all in decision-making processes;
The right to contribute to and sustain the common good;
Cherishing of indigenous knowledge systems that are inclusive, participatory and consultative;
A recognition and utilization of people's indigenous knowledge and skills;
Putting in place structures and mechanisms that will ensure the provision of community's daily needs;
Responsible leadership and self-reliant citizenry;
Public institutions that address people's legitimate needs;
Engendering a harmonious co-existence between all stakeholders;
Respect for all forms of life.

3. The land given to us by God does not only belong to the present community.

It also belongs to our ancestors on whose contributions we build and whose memories we keep.
It also belongs to the coming generations for whom we hold the land in trust and whose needs we should not compromise.

4. The land does not belong to us as people. Instead, we belong to the land.[viii]

We came from the earth and to the earth we will return.
We are not living on the earth; we are part of the earth's biosphere.
We form part of the land and we live from the earth for the flourishing of the earth.
The well-being of the earth transcends all of us because it is something bigger than our own interests.

5. The land does not belong to itself. Ultimately, it belongs to its Creator, the One who sustains the Earth, and who will finally restore it. In the light of these considerations we are challenged to respond in the following ways:

We CONFESS that we as human beings have not always allowed the earth and its creatures to flourish. We have all too often abused and brought death to the land. We confess that we, especially as churches, have often been indifferent to environmental degradation and that, as a result, we have participated in the destruction of the environment. In many ways, we are doing to the land what AIDS is doing to our bodies. Now the land itself is infected with AIDS.
We ACKNOWLEDGE our responsibility, especially as churches, to keep the
land and to care for it as the land cares for us.
We COMMIT ourselves, especially as churches, to promote relationships that enhance and do not undermine sustainable communities. Therefore, we commit ourselves:

To promote the harvesting of water, especially in small community projects in arid or semi-arid areas;
To help ensure food security for all, especially through indigenous means of food production, and to avoid dependence on external means of agricultural production;
To promote practices that enhance the fertility of the soil;
To resist all forms of deforestation and to promote tree-planting;
To speak out against industrial pollution caused elsewhere in the light of its impact on geographical areas such as the African continent and the Island States that are particularly vulnerable to climate change;
To seek appropriate forms of waste management and to resist the disposal of toxic and other forms of waste in impoverished countries;
To promote the use of new and renewable sources of energy;
To promote technologies that add to natural resources and that do not only extract from nature. Where technologies do extract from nature, ways of replenishing such resources must be sought.
To promote participatory and inclusive forms of governance;
To promote gender justice in the light of the crucial role of women in ensuring sustainability;
To attend to the re-education and re-orientation of local communities.

We CALL upon leaders of Christian churches, of other faith communities
and various levels of government, in African countries and elsewhere in
the world:

To promote the well-being of the land and all its creatures
To resist the greed and self-interest of affluent and powerful minorities.

· We PRAY for the healing of the land.

God, help us not to destroy the land and to stop fighting over resources that ultimately belong to you. God graciously hear us. AMEN.

Notes for clarification

[i] Statement adopted at the African Regional Consultation on Environment and Sustainability, held at Machakos, Kenya , 6-10 May 2002.

[ii] The notion of 'globalization' needs thorough critique. In practice, it currently refers to the exclusive process of increasing penetration of capital investments, industrial goods and services from affluent nations to the destitute ones. There is neither mutuality nor reciprocity in this process.

[iii] Sustainable development is often defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. However, the concept of "development" itself is highly problematic. Several decades of development initiatives have failed to bridge the gap between the affluent in centres of economic power and the impoverished on the economic periphery. In many cases development projects only succeeded in creating dependency and increasing poverty. Although there have been many attempts to define alternative models of development, the term itself remains highly contested. The legacy of the failure of "development" cannot simply be resolved by adding the adjective "sustainable". Moreover, sustainable development has become a euphemism used by the forces of globalization to disguise expansionist economic growth in the name of environmental concerns.

[iv] Almost all land in Africa, except in matrilineal societies, is owned and controlled by men.

[v] The notion of 'Aid' should be carefully critiqued. At present the word 'Aid" is commonly used to refer to many forms of relationship such as donations, grants, loans, inducements gifts, supportive initiatives and moral encouragement. The relationship between the affluent nations and the destitute ones is characterized by the uncomfortable distinction, respectively, between the Creditors and the Debtors. In this relationship, the affluent nations have acquired the public profile of Benefactors, dispensing 'Aid" to the destitute nations. In reality, the transfer of funds, goods and services and thus dispensed as 'Aid', is in fact an investment, payable with interest under specified terms and conditions. The conditions imposed on the destitute nations compromise their sovereignty and integrity. There are no regulatory mechanisms to discipline the creditor nations in their exploitation of their debtors.

[vi] The notion of sustainability implies an emphasis on the provision of basic sustenance that can be sustained over time. In the African context, the provision of such sustenance is often challenged by the more immediate need for livelihood and survival.

[vii] In the emphasis on local community life, the dangers of traditionalism, authoritarianism, conformity, and the oppression of women and children that characterized many traditional societies have to be taken into account.

[viii] This formulation seeks to counter the pervasive ideology of anthropocentrism, i.e. the view that human beings form the centre of the created order and that everything in nature is there to serve human needs only.