Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) While calling for global carbon emissions cuts, Kenya’s National Council of Churches has launched a multifaith campaign to lobby governments, industries and multilateral agencies to agree on a binding treaty at the U.N. climate change talks in Paris later this year.

A new protocol is expected to be adopted at the meeting, known as COP21, to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which is due to expire. That protocol required that state signers reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the premise that global warming exists and human-made carbon dioxide emissions have caused it.

A pan–African climate justice campaign, under the slogan “We Have Faith – Act Now for Climate Justice” seeks to mobilize African religious communities on climate justice, ahead of the December conference. It has launched a 1 million signature petition to push for a new treaty.

“As religious leaders, our commitment to the health of our planet is not an option. It is an obligation,” said the Rev. Peter Karanja, the Kenya church council’s general secretary.

Karanja said there is enough scientific evidence that climate change is real and its impacts are affecting the entire humanity.

Anglican Archbishop Eliud Wabukala of Kenya, said churches should be proactive in lobbying for quick responses to global warming.

“Climate change is to blame for conflicts over resources and new epidemics,” said Wabukala.

“There will be no peace if we do not act to protect communities from negative impacts of climate change like hunger, water scarcity and loss of natural beauty,” added Wabukala.

 
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

Pope Leo XIV greets religious sisters during a meeting with officials and employees of the Roman Curia, Vatican City State and the Diocese of Rome in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican May 24, 2025. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Describing the Curia as the institution that preserves “the historical memory of the church,” Pope Leo called on these Vatican employees to “work together” with him “in the great cause of unity and love.”
Gerard O’ConnellMay 24, 2025
Paola Ugaz, a Peruvian journalist who helped expose the abuse committed by leaders of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, gives Pope Leo XIV a stole made of alpaca wool, during the pope's meeting with members of the media May 12, 2025, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Pope Leo offered a heartening message for a global media that has endured a pretty awful year.
Kevin ClarkeMay 23, 2025
If you think our enthusiasm for our basketball team was intense, just wait until you see our support for Pope Leo XIV.
Jack DoolinMay 23, 2025
“I don’t think he’s the kind of man who sends coded messages,” Cardinal Michael Czerny says in this exclusive interview with Gerard O’Connell.
Gerard O’ConnellMay 23, 2025