Climate talks cannot afford to ignore religion

all. The 34-year-old Harare sports administrator is a devout Christian, who is also committed to charity work.
Yeukai’s moral, ethical and spiritual attachment to her faith is unquestionable.

When away from work at the Zimbabwe Rugby Union, Yeukai is busy with efforts helping the underprivileged in society, busy with church work, and when she can afford, get some sleep.
Just on Friday, she left Harare for Francistown, Botswana, to help set up and open her church organisation’s new branch there.
Yeukai is worried, however.

She does not quite understand the changes that have been happening in the world’s climate system.
The increased frequency and extremity of droughts, floods, hunger, famine, heat waves or cold.
Although she does not have a child of her own, Yeukai is concerned about the continued existence of humanity going into the future.
She believes the occurrences in the world today, defined by mankind as climate change and global warming, are in fact acts of God. These acts have been conveniently ignored by the world, at its own peril.

She said the acts function as God’s reminder to humankind of His eternal existence.
The most fundamental issue that Yeukai has comprehended, which has not occurred, or has been ignored by world leaders is the role played by religion in tackling the challenge of climate change and global warming.

This is the voice calling “out from the wilderness”, for want of a permanent seat at all international climate negotiations.
It is important that religion is included in any future global talks aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change, starting with Durban next week.
At least 85 percent of the world’s seven billion people are declared religious, committed to one faith or another.
Christians and Muslims are represented the most.

African religion, Hindus, Buddhists, etc, all have their independent perspectives, and possibly solutions on climate change.
The reason why the religious voice has been crowded out and often drowned at most United Nations debates on climate change is simple.
The first is that the vast majority of people leading the climate talks are not believers. They are people whose approach to spiritual things is dubious, and have often dismissed spiritual interventions as hogwash and intangible philosophical teachings.

Secondly, political and economic forces with key interests in carbon fuel technologies relentlessly seek to influence the direction of the negotiations at every turn.
They have succeeded, to a certain extent. However, their limited successes have not given sufficient guarantees to an expectant world that Durban will produce a positive outcome for our children and those after them.

The religious constituency cannot, therefore, continue to be sidelined in the global climate talks given as its proportionally huge representation in the affairs of the world. The role played by religion in mitigating the effects of climate change cannot be underestimated.
A significant proportion of the religious grouping, particularly Christians, have been seen to be very active in mobilising financial and medical resources, providing moral support and food relief in times of disaster.

Christians and other religions provided crucial humanitarian support when a powerful earthquake ravished Haiti in January 2010, killing over 230 000 people, destroying homes and public facilities.
Religious help is currently flowing to Somalia, where a combination of conflict and hunger has worsened the famine. Examples abound of religion’s interventions in crisis situations. They cannot be exhausted in one breadth. In Zimbabwe, such religion-sponsored interventions, especially Christian, are common in times of droughts, extreme floods, hunger and disease.
Climate change campaigner and researcher Mr Mukundi Mutasa said the role of religion in handling climate change is not readily recognised at international fora for several reasons.

“I have not heard much regarding how this (religion) has been recognised,” he said.
“We should not forget too that this issue of religion is politically hot and would rather not be brought at international fora. There is already animosity between Christians and Muslims, especially on the war on terror, which it can be argued ended up being a war against Islam.
“So how can these be brought up when there is already this stand-off? And not many people out there are religious either.”

The African and Zimbabwean religion blames the changes in climatic conditions on moral decay, disrespect for traditional beliefs, customs and ancestors as well as on prostituted cultural practices being shipped from the West.
Africa’s efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change by promoting the preservation of selected tree species have not been that much successful, explained Mr Mutasa. He said certain trees, which held very special cultural and religious values along with many others were being destroyed, but Africa should continue to promote the preservation of its treasured species in addition to planting more trees.

Trees are important in providing oxygen for human beings and absorbing greenhouse gases produced by the world’s industries. However, walking through cities and industrial sites, Yeukai notices with concern, often times with anger at the carbon fumes bellowing into the sky from motor vehicles and industrial activity.

Such fumes are synonymous with big developed cities in the West, where most of the world’s greenhouse gas pollution takes place.
In rural and farming areas, trees are recklessly mowed down, just so a very short-term objective is fulfilled.

Yeukai says individual efforts to address climate change will not work, collected individual efforts may achieve something, and the world working together, some credible hard fought progress could be attained.

Her answer, however, lies in the application of God’s Word to the challenge of climate change.
Without God, Yeukai said, all human attempts to reverse the effects of climate change and global warming will fail.
At best, they will offer temporary respite. This is why religion, in Yeukai’s case, Christian values must be rapidly included in the global climate change discourse.
“I believe everything in this world belongs to God and that He controls everything,” Yeukai said.

God in His infinite wisdom and knowledge says in Job 9:4-8 ” . . . who has hardened himself against Him and succeeded? He who removes mountains, and they know it not, when He overturns them in His anger. Who shakes the earth out of its place and its pillars tremble?
“Who commands the sun and it does not rise, Who seals up the stars? Who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea?”

This verse and others before it explain that God works in mysterious ways and humankind cannot understand His actions.
This is also why human beings have come up with their own explanations as to the causes of disasters such earthquakes even when the scriptures make it abundantly clear that God shakes the earth and makes its pillars tremble.

The happenings referred to by the world as the effects of climate change might at first appear isolated, but the Word of God indicates that these are in fact a sequence of carefully designed and co-ordinated events.

It is therefore important that while people continue to search for answers to climate change, they must understand that God remains in control and that He holds all power in His hand.
Keeping the Word out of the climate change war will imperil the world.