COP27: People of faith join hands on eve of climate summit

On the eve of COP27, people of faith gathered for a Talanoa dialogue and prayer. They met one another across different faiths and shared initiatives, concerns, and hopes for their engagement at the climate conference.  

Informal Talanoa gathering at the start climate summit

(LWI) – “Our commitment fundamentally is based on our faith,” said Romario Dohmann from the Evangelical Church of the River Plate. “As stewards of creation, we are not its owners but its caretakers.” Dohmann represented The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) on the panel contributing to the Talanoa interfaith gathering on the eve of COP27.

Talanoa dialogues are Fijian indigenous peoples' way of solving community problems. It was introduced as a methodology for working together on challenging issues when Fiji held the presidency of COP23. A Talanoa Dialogue takes participants through the following questions: Where are we? Where do we want to go? How do we get there? On the eve of COP27, it offered an opportunity for people of diverse faiths to gather and freely share initiatives, concerns, and hopes.

“In times of crisis, it should not matter what passport you have, how old you are, or any other category we often use. What is important is to stand with the most vulnerable – those who suffer the most,” said Dohmann.

For the Coptic Orthodox Church, hosting the event at the Heavenly Cathedral in Sharm el Sheikh, Fr Andrawes Samir welcomed participants to the “African COP” adding that the hope was to “come up with solutions [at COP27] for the whole of humanity and the earth.”

Harjeet Singh from the Climate Action Network underlined the significance of climate justice and its interconnectedness with climate finance. He said justice had not been achieved so far. “The root cause for this situation is that rich countries have not provided their fair share of climate finance and did not sufficiently reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”  

Speaking on behalf of the All Africa Conference of Churches and the Africa Faith Actors Network on Climate Justice, Rev. Feleke Tibebu pointed out that faith actors play a significant role in addressing climate justice. “We are connected to the people at the grassroots level,” he said. “Globally reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a matter of life and death for us. But we can achieve change when we work together across faiths and civil society organizations.”

“We will be successful in climate change mitigation and adaptation to the extent that we are able to change ourselves,” said Maureen Goodman from Brahma Kumaris. “Spiritual resources give us strength and resilience, and we know we will need much more of that in the future.” She also stressed the importance of non-violence “to lead us from violence and dominance towards stewardship and respect.”

“As people of faith, we have a huge responsibility to engage with those in economic and political power,” said Karimi Kinoti from Christian Aid. She appreciated the Talanoa format as “bringing voices forward who are not always heard in mainstream debate.”

Rev. Raymond Minniecon is an indigenous person from Australia. Referring to the ancestral knowledge of his people, he said: “Adaptation, mitigation, implementation: we did it. And we can do it again. We want to do it again, for our Mother Earth.”

Following the presentations on the panel, participants engaged in small discussion groups online and in person. The Talanoa Dialogue ended with an interfaith prayer, where representatives of multiple faiths shared a prayer, song or reflection from their tradition. Reading from Proverbs 8, Rev. Dr. Chad Rimmer from the LWF recalled “the Wisdom that created and sustains life on Earth is the wisdom that we seek, calling people of all faiths to journey together in hope towards a just and peaceable future.”