The theme of the conference, from lamentation to hope, suggests a spectrum (along which different speakers situated themselves) as well as directional movement. Tuvaluan theologian Tafue Lusama, from Pacific Theological College, argued that to lament is to be prophetic. Several speakers spoke of distressing and challenging events, but rather than being crushed by their destruction or destructive potential, considered the promise inherent in them. Anglican Bishop Nicholas Chamberlain from the Diocese of Lincoln mentioned that his diocese was almost insolvent in 2019. Professor Elisabeth Holland, a renowned scientist specialising in climate change and ocean systems, spoke about environmental tipping points, points after which change becomes irreversible. Yet both shifted from lamentation over these circumstances towards hope. The financial challenges of Bishop Nicholas’s diocese offered an opportunity to change for the better, and for a total reframing and reprioritising of their ecological goals. Care for the environment is now central to the work of the diocese. Professor Holland cautioned strongly about the potential realities of unchecked climate change, but alongside that lamentation she offered the potential of a tipping point for good, comprised of divestment from fossil fuels and other solutions which are being developed by scientific research.

In order to tip those balances in the right direction, many speakers talked about what actions and connections needed to be strengthened in order to make a positive difference with real impact. There was much emphasis upon the partnerships that must be forged between churches and scientists. Though some in the community—even the leaders of some churches—hold religion and science to be in opposition, that is not the case and need not be the case: creating and investing in connections between the two is a critical way forward. While there is benefit for church leaders and scientists in engaging with political processes, particularly in bodies like the United Nations’ COP, it is also clear—as Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Dr. Winston Halapua pointed out—that political lifespans are short compared with the work of the church. Because politicians’ term of influence can be brief, scientists and church leaders should be talking to corporations as well as political leaders. In addition, Anglican Archbishop Julio Murray argued that though COP is a significant body, the real work of combatting climate change doesn’t happen at its meetings. Churches also have the opportunity to communicate from within, from a cultural context that could reach climate change deniers or millenarian Christians and lead to concrete local action. Archbishop Winston urged church leaders to do something with what they have: words. And Rev. Dr. Hirini Kaa, Manukura of St John’s Theological College in Auckland, described the comfort and spiritual support provided by the Anglican Church to those impacted by the devastation of Hurricane Gabrielle in Tairawhiti in 2023.

Another strand woven from many speakers’ points was that people of all ages can contribute to the work of protecting the environment around us. Several spoke of the importance of listening to as well as guiding youth. Reverend James Bhagwan of the Methodist Church in Fiji, and General Secretary of the Pacific Council of Churches, began his talk by asking his daughter Antonia to read her published poem, itself a lament, titled ‘Don’t let my home sink like the sun’. He called for indigenous climate knowledge to be brought into the curriculum of schools, including church-run primary and secondary schools, using empowering decolonised language. He called also for theological colleges to take two particular steps. First, to prioritise climate change work, so that it will be brought to the communities where graduates will go after their training. Second, to make actions which resist or reverse climate change a part of church life in the round rather than a separate programme, recognising the interconnectedness of this work with all of religious life and practice. The seeds of hope are not tended only by the young; Anglican Archbishop of Polynesia, Sione Ulu’ilakepa, told a story about an elderly man, Mihati, who took on some of the clean-up after Cyclone Kita in Tonga in 2018. Mihati responded with openness and positivity even after his house and all of his possessions in it had been destroyed by the cyclone, and he was eager to make a contribution to his community’s survival. In addition to supporting youth, Archbishop Sione advised listening to the wisdom of those with experience and knowledge.

Speakers also stressed the importance of reframing economic models and moving away from the orthodoxies of capitalism and neo-imperialism. Rev. Dr. Cliff Bird of the Uniting Church of the Solomon Islands spoke about his work reimagining the dominant model of economic projection away from GDP and a focus on growth. The political pressure being exerted right now by mining companies, who want to extract minerals from the deep ocean, alongside the environmental impacts of historical mineral extraction and the destruction of forests, leaves us ecologically poorer and less stable; Dr. Bird argued that the economic model of market growth/GDP as a measure of the economy is weak. Sharing and reciprocity preceded capitalism, and this informed his work in formulating Reweaving the Ecological Mat (REM), published by the Pacific Council of Churches. Rev. James Bhagwan pointed out that the ocean plays an important role in absorbing carbon and in producing 50-60% of the oxygen we breathe, and yet the ocean is mapped for exploitation and as a part of an economic war for resources. Feiloakitau Tevi directed a question at those from Aotearoa: what is your role in exploiting others in the Pacific? Similarly, Dr. Paul Roughan cautioned against the neo-imperialism which is present in the Pacific, and warned about treating some legal strategies as a panacea. He pointed out the risks of naming the ocean as a person (as has been done with the Whanganui River in Aotearoa) because while this strategy appears to protect the ocean, people can be subjected to custodianships, and controlled by lawyers.

The final strand highlighted here is the power of the unknown and how an awareness of how much we do not know must temper advocates of further extraction. Taholo Kami, the United Nations’ IUCN Regional Director for Oceania and the Pacific, showed an image of nodules at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Scientists have recently realised that these nodules are charged, and can break apart water molecules to produce oxygen deep in the ocean where light cannot reach. This ‘dark’ oxygen sits counter to the orthodoxies about the production of oxygen on our planet. Messing with these nodules—as would happen were proposed deep sea mining to proceed at scale—could have significant flow-on impacts on the health and even survival of those of us who live outside the ocean. Though there is much we cannot see or do not yet know about its systems and its depths, the ocean is central to life on land.

The Moana Water of Life 2 conference was livestreamed and can be watched here.

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Several years ago, I worked with many communities throughout Tonga on disaster risk reduction and climate change issues. The good thing about working with people is that you not only get to actually see the problems they are facing in their contexts, and hear their stories firsthand, but also to see what’s going with the work of churches on the ground. Over the past 8 years, I found out through my research that climate change is still a relatively new issue at the local church level; the majority of people don’t know what climate change is, and people perceive it as an elite-level kind of issue. Church leaders have a lot of talanoa at the decision-making level and yet not many concrete actions have been happening in places where climate change most needs to be addressed.

Tonga has been employed as a case study for this final post not only because is a member of the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC), but also we can use Tonga as a testing ground for how effective the PCC’s climate change work in a local context has been. It’s important to talk about Tonga, because according to the World Risk Report, Tonga is the second most at-risk country in the world after Vanuatu; one of the most likely to be affected by disasters caused by natural hazards and the effects of climate change.^[1] After five decades of collaboration, meetings, and declarations, PCC climate initiatives have not been effective in making change at the local level. In this post, I will discuss the Tongan churches’ past and current approaches to climate change. I start with Tonga’s national context and the important milestones which Tonga has achieved in addressing climate change. It’s necessary to have some understanding of what’s going on the national level and its connection to the church sector. Next, I outline the history of the Tongan National Council of Churches and the Tonga National Forum of Church Leaders’ journey with climate change. The intention of this post is to outline what has been achieved, what are some limitations to work around, and what needs to be improved. I end by highlighting what that means for the Anglican Church in the Pacific, and its Three Tikanga model, with some recommendations on a way forward to better caring for God’s creation.

At the national level, Tonga has reached some significant milestones towards addressing climate change issues since its participation in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in July 1998. Through the leadership and guidance of the government, Tonga has successfully integrated Climate Change into the Tonga Strategic Development Framework (TSDF) 2011–2014 and 2015–2025. Also, Tonga released its Initial National Communication under the UNFCCC in 2005, its Second National Communication in 2012, and its Third National Communication in 2019.^[2] Further milestones include the design of Tonga’s Climate Change Policy 2006 and 2016, accession to the Kyoto Protocol in 2008, the ratification of the Doha amendments to the Kyoto Protocol in 2018, the formulation of the Initial Joint National Action Plan on Climate Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management (JNAP) 2010–2015 and then the Second Joint National Action Plan on Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management 2018–2028. Lastly, Tonga has rolled out climate change mitigation and adaptation programs and projects throughout the nation.^[3]

The significance of the National Communication Projects is that they not only provide updates to UNFCCC of climate change activities nationally, but they also strengthen the activities discussed in previous National Communication Projects. The third National Communication built on the second, and the second on the first, in other words. The Third National Communication reported that Tonga has “strengthened the national capacities, partnership and cooperation with related sectors, raised general knowledge, increased involvement of all relevant stakeholders and enhanced awareness on climate change and its impacts”.^[4] For example, Tonga successfully contributed to the fulfilment of the first threshold for 55 countries to ratify the Paris Agreement as one of 60 countries which have ratified, accepted, approved or acceded to the Paris Agreement with the UNʻs Depositary.^[5] According to the UN General Secretary, Ban Ki-Moon, this is an outstanding accomplishment. As he states, “This momentum is remarkable, it can sometimes take years or even decades for a treaty to enter into force…This is testament to the urgency of the crisis we all face.”^[6] Tonga has also launched the Tonga Climate Change Trust Fund after many years of working towards it. This fund is designed specifically to aid local communities in alleviating the effects of climate change. In terms of capacity building, Tonga has managed to increase its attendance in training and workshops on the Building of Sustainable National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Management Systems. Tonga has also implemented the Use of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. This is really important for the recording of gas emissions in Tonga.

The National Communication Projects provided data and information for Tonga’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) report, Climate Change Policy 2016, JNAP 2, Tonga GCF Country Programme and other project proposals. The importance of these documents cannot be overemphasised, because they provide updated, reliable and relevant information for Tonga about its climate circumstances, and its policies, activities and programmes as Tonga works towards resilience. For example, they show how many carbon emissions were released each year and how much has been reduced. Under UNFCCC’s categorisation, Tonga is a non-Annex I member country, which means that Tonga is not obligated to follow any specific greenhouse gas reduction as required by the Kyoto Protocol. Tonga, however, continues the work to lower its greenhouse gas emissions by using and promoting renewable energy resources and energy efficiency appliances.^[7] Although the country has a very small contribution to the global greenhouse gas emissions, Tonga is firm in its commitment to UNFCCC’s overall objective.

This is what the Tongan government has been doing, but what about the Tongan churches? What have they been doing in light of climate change? Tongan religious groups are diverse and comprise 13 main denominations, with further divisions within some of the denominations.^[8] Figure 1 shows the numbers and proportion of adherents of the five major churches in Tonga in 2020 and 2021.

Figure 1: Religion in Tonga
(Source: Tonga Statistics Department, ‘2021 Population and Housing Factsheet’, 3)

My doctoral research found that the churches’ responses to climate change in Tonga are insufficient. In the last three decades, all churches in Tonga have done minimal work to address climate change issues, both at the denominational and ecumenical level. There are two key ecumenical bodies in Tonga: the Tonga National Council of Churches and the Tonga National Forum of Church Leaders (TNFCL).^[9] TNCC is comprised of the mainline churches, which are the Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Church, Free Wesleyan Church and Church of Tonga. The TNFCL consists of all churches, including the Mormons, in Tonga.^[10] In the past 4 decades of TNCC’s operation, members worked hand-in-hand on various community development projects, seminars on land issues, Cyclone Isaac recovery assistance (1982), and fundraising activities to support communities across Tonga. Despite these good works, there is still little work that TNCC has done on climate change. Like TNCC, TNFCL has done little work on climate change since its establishment in 2012. TNFCL, instead, has been focusing on some socio-political issues such as opposing the government’s ratification of The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 2015 and pushing to prohibit bakeries from opening on Sundays.^[11] In an email correspondence with TNFCL’s General Secretary, Rev. Fili Lilo in 2017, he said that although climate change is one of the main issues on the table, it is still an issue of talanoa.^[12] In my research between 2018 and 2024, climate change remains at the talanoa level. In other words, TNFCL has been active on talanoa, but less on some concrete actions on the issue. Even when the issue of Covid-19 entered Tonga, TNFCL continued the talanoa and submitted reports to the government via the cabinet.^[13]

At the denominational level, a few churches have done some advocacy to address the threats climate change promises, and yet their time and effort have been stuck largely on the level of talanoa. For example, the Roman Catholic Church has responded positively to climate change through the work of Caritas Tonga, which is the arm of Catholic Church for justice, peace and development in Tonga and Niue. The main work of Caritas in relation to climate change in Tonga has been raising public awareness about the issue and its threatening impact (e.g. deforestation and rising sea levels).^[14] Cardinal Soane Mafi brought together the church (the third largest in Tonga, per Figure 1) in September 2020 in a Mass; this Mass celebrated the beginning of a week dedicated to climate change.^[15] Apart from this church service, there has been no other work done by the Catholic Church on climate change at the parish level.

The Anglican Church has begun some work in response to climate change. In August 2015, the Archbishop of York, Rt Hon Dr John Sentamu, joined Archbishop of Polynesia Winston Halapua, together with the Anglican community of Tonga, in an Oceanic Eucharist Service on Pangaimotu Island. This was an important part of the Anglican mission to address climate change because it was followed by the mass planting of mangrove seedlings on the part of the island where the sea has hugely eroded the land and trees have died. The environmental importance of mangroves in this place is that they help maintain the land and prevent it from eroding, and at the same time act as wave breakers, which also contributes to minimising erosion caused by waves. Additionally, a youth climate change workshop was held in Nuku‘alofa in 2017 to promote ways to build climate resilience. This was further strengthened when one of the Anglican parishes, All Saints Fasi-mo e-Afi, conducted a Community Integrated Vulnerability Assessment (CIVA) Training to equip youth to collect information about the most vulnerable people and places most at risk in times of tropical cyclones. Born out of CIVA was the Creation Care Campaign ‘No Pelesitiki’ (No Plastic). This was prompted by youth discovering large amounts of plastic waste going into the sea, where it creates a health risk for fishing grounds. Young people gather to clean up plastic rubbish on the Nuku‘alofa seashore on a regular basis, especially on Saturdays when most of the youth are available.^[16] It is important to note that this work on climate change by the Anglican Church is only done by one parish and only by their youth.

The Wesleyan Church has undertaken some climate change mitigation work also. Since 2021, the Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Environment, Climate Change and Communications (MEIDECC) has been working in partnership with the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga and Sia‘atoutai Theological College via the Strengthening Adaptation Planning in Tonga Project (SAPT). This is for the ‘Development of a Climate Resilience Curriculum’ for Sia‘atoutai Theological College. The first phase of the project revised the curricula of STC to integrate climate change and ecological issues. The second phase focused on developing an accredited course module on climate change, disaster preparedness, environment, and theology. The DCRC was officially launched in July 2023 and “will be offered at Sia‘atoutai Theological College as part of its academic and ministerial curricula, along with community-based resilience training for existing church leaders and ministers”.^[17]

What can we learn from these initiatives on the ground? First: they contain promise, but greater awareness and engagement is needed. The youth group in Nuku‘alofa is doing great work: what would it take to inspire other youth groups to pick up the mantle in other parts of Tonga, responding to particular local needs? What are some of the local needs—like mangrove renewal—that remain unaddressed but which could be led by local solutions, as with the mangrove replanting initiative in Pangaimotu? Informational gaps remain, too, which limit the ways people understand the climate challenges in Tonga. It’s clear that there is a need for more meteorological data to be collected; that is, data required for specialised application services such as soils’ moisture data, radiation data, and upper air data. There needs to be more rainfall measurements in various areas of the nation and more collection of ocean observations/inshore coastal water observations (e.g. tide, sea level, salinity and acidity, the absence of which makes it difficult to make proper detailed location assessments). There is a need for Indigenous/traditional knowledge and practice data to be collected. For instance, the traditional knowledge base for each community needs to be collected and stored in an accessible database which is readily available. This will help people aware of the capacity they already have and how to use it in climate adaptation and mitigation strategies. For example, there are traditional coping mechanisms for tropical cyclones (before, during, and after the event). There is also a need for impact information, especially for the delivery of better climate services. For example, GIS mapping, climate and risk profiling of every community including the collection of traditional knowledge and practices. Having better and more complete data would not only enable people to specifically aware of climate risk areas, but also the traditional coping mechanisms they have. This is essential and helpful in identifying areas to build communities’ capacity upon, as part of their response to the climate crisis.

What does all this mean for the Anglican Church, and its three-tikanga model? It shows how important it is for the churches to be involved in climate change works and to work hand-in-hand with the government and research institutes in determining and addressing environmental issues. The Anglican church in Tonga is taking the lead on the implementation of some practical initiatives on the ground—but we can do more than that. This could range from smaller initiatives to larger, joined-up initiatives. Since climate change cannot be addressed productively on an individual level in a cultural context like Tonga which thrives on and is sustained through community, it’s appropriate to approach potential solutions collectively. This is where the roles of Pacific Conferences of Churches, the Tonga National Council of Churches and Tonga Forum of Church Leaders are most needed. Instead of investing more funds on talanoa and meetings, a substantial amount of those funds and/or subsidies can be diverted into the development and implementation of practical initiatives on the local church level. This will have a twofold impact and effectiveness. Churches can start with the most climate-vulnerable areas and then move to other places of need, which are already being identified by the Tongan government. Additionally, by focussing on the local, churches will effectively contribute to the commitment to reducing carbon emissions by using less transport and fewer flights for regional/international meetings, conferences, workshops, and trainings.

In terms of the accessibility, affordability, and viability of potential solutions for Tonga, I propose two initial solutions: 1) Planting mangroves and other trees; and 2) Using indigenous knowledge/skills, goods and foods in preparation for natural disasters. The strength of these solutions is that first: people in Tonga can relate to them and won’t require highly-paid outside experts to teach them how to go about the work. Critically, churches have the resources to develop these practical initiatives and implement them if they prioritise climate change mitigation. In replanting trees, churches can work together with the government in providing human resources (especially youth groups, as the most physically active members of society) to plant mangroves and other trees in areas already identified by the government, through the Environment and Climate Change Department. That there is a shortage of people to do the planting has been known for years, but church communities can mobilise, and the PCC can establish a fund for this purpose and find ways to grow and sustain this fund for the long run. At the local level, churches can commit days to do this, even using some of allocated dates and times for normal church programs (e.g. bible studies, services, etc.) for planting trees.

Churches can also use the massive resources (like PCC, TNCC, TNFCL, and local church parishes) they own to fill in gaps in the current work of the government about climate change. For example, churches can establish a fund to collect data on indigenous/traditional knowledge and practice in preparation for natural disasters (before, during, and after). These data should be accessible via a database which is readily available to the wider public. The collection of indigenous knowledge can help promote ideas for leadership development and ongoing action in climate resilience (adaptation/mitigation) space. Taking this further, churches could put these together and create a curriculum or training programs for children and youth and then extend this to other groups in Tonga. Churches can continue to expand their sources of funding and find ways how to sustain funding options.

It’s time for the Church to get on with concrete actions rather than keep on keeping on with the talanoa and meetings. The climate crisis is not going to be combated by mere ideas and words, but also with action. Caring for God’s creation is about getting our hands dirty and sweating on—and for—the ground. Through our collective actions we inform, enrich, and improve the quality of our theories, talanoa and meetings. Words alone neither grow mangroves/trees as wave breakers and preventers of soil erosion nor build climate-proof infrastructure. Words and actions are not effective when they are treated in isolation. They have to work hand-in-hand, and it is through the weaving together of both that we will come up with better concrete and sustainable solutions for the climate crisis.

This is the last in a series of four posts. Click here for the first post: A History of Care for God’s Creation within the Church: It’s Time to Walk the Walk!  Click here for the second post: Lynn White Jr. and the Origin of Care for God’s Creation in the World Council of Churches. Click here for the third post: The Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) and Practical Initiatives Addressing the Climate Crisis.

Footnotes

¹ Peter Mucke, ed., WorldRiskReport 2020; Focus: Forced Displacement and Migration (Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft And Ruhr University Bochum – Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV), 2020), 7.
² The National Communication on climate change issues is a vital part of the obligations of countries who have officially signed/declared their commitment under the UNFCCC. These provide regular updates on their national circumstances, greenhouse gas inventory, mitigation analysis, vulnerability/adaptation assessment, constraints, gaps/needs, and other information considered relevant to the objective of the convention in addressing climate change. This update takes the form of a report.
³ Ministry for Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Climate Change and Communications [MEIDECC], Kingdom of Tonga Third National Communication on Climate Change, December 2019.
⁴ ibid., ii.
⁵ The Paris Agreement entered into force on 4 November 2016, 30 days after the date on which at least 55 Parties to the Convention, accounting in total for at least an estimated 55% of the total global greenhouse gas emissions, have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with the Depositary. Both the threshold of at least 55% Parties and 55% of the total global greenhouse gas emissions have to be met before the agreement is legally binding. This is conditional to the parties’ agreement to pursue efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C. For more details, see ‘Paris Agreement – Status of Ratification | UNFCCC’, (accessed 20 August 2024).
⁶ MEIDECC, Kingdom of Tonga Third National Communication on Climate Change, 192.
⁷ ibid., 192.
⁸ Tonga Statistics Department, ‘Population and Housing Factsheet 2021’, 3
⁹ TNCC was established in 1973. See I. C. Campbell, Island Kingdom: Tonga Ancient and Modern (Canterbury University Press, 2001), 217; J. Conan, Pioneer Secretary of TNCC for 10 years, Questionnaires sent through email, 22 October 2023.
¹⁰ Philip Cass, ‘A Common Conception of Justice Underlies Pacific Churches’ Message on Climate Change’, Pacific Journalism Review: Te Koakoa 26, no.2 (2020), 88–101.
¹¹ Suliana A. Mone, ‘Human Rights Treaties in the Pacific: A Case Study of the Non-Ratification of CEDAW in Tonga’ (PhD Thesis, University of Waikato, 2022).
¹² See Laiseni F. C. Liava‘a, ‘Climate Change and Churches in Tonga: Hampering Factors Towards Unity’ (Master of Applied Theology Thesis, Carey Baptist College, Auckland, 2018), 24.
¹³ Laiseni F. C. Liava‘a, ‘Reimagining a new and unifying approach to climate resilience in Tonga’ (PhD Thesis, University of Canterbury, 2024), 30.
¹⁴ Cass, 95.
¹⁵ Ibid.
¹⁶ Julanne Clarke-Morris, ‘Tongan Anglicans Build Climate Resilience’, Anglican Taonga, 19 October 2021.
¹⁷ ‘Chief Secretary and Secretary to Cabinet, ‘Acting CEO for MEIDECC launches Reports on the Development of a Climate Resilience Curriculum for Sia’atoutai Theological College’, 11 July 2023.

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Talanoa is a central concept commonly shared across Pacific Island cultures. Talanoa basically means a conversation, talking, exchange of ideas or thinking, whether formal or informal.^[1] Talanoa is essential, because maintaining relationships is vital for most Pacific cultural activities.^[2] One of the strengths of talanoa is that it tears down the barriers between people of different status, allowing them to interact on a level playing field. Through talanoa, people will not only collect relevant knowledge, but also share important information that will address Pacific issues. Yet while talanoa has been recognised as a strength of the Pacific Islands, it can also be a weakness, particularly when it comes to addressing environmental issues. We must move the agenda forward from talanoa to taking concrete actions on the ground.

In the previous post, I discussed the origin of the widespread recognition within the World Council of Churches that Christians had a duty to care for God’s creation, following Lynn White’s 1967 contention that Western Christianity must be held responsible for the current environmental crisis. My post today will first outline the historical background which led to the connection of the WCC to the Pacific region and then the establishment of the PCC. It’s necessary to explore this backstory in order to understand how the issue of care for God’s creation came to the PCC. I will then expand on the work the PCC has done to address climate issues since its establishment. At this point, I would like to be upfront: my research has found that despite its claims to action for over two decades now, the PCC has not implemented sufficient practical initiatives aimed at addressing the climate crisis. Their focus has been mainly conceptual/theoretical, such as announcing declarations about the threatening impact of climate change, rather than carrying out the concrete work which is urgently needed on the ground.

Pacific Islanders were instrumental in the proclamation of the good news across the islands, but their churches were not included when the WCC was established in 1948. In 1961, Anglican and other Protestant churches of the Pacific region decided to form a regional ecumenical body. This was the beginning of the connection and dialogue between the region and the WCC, which led to the establishment of the PCC in 1966. In 1983, the WCC’s Fifth Assembly was held in Vancouver, and Pacific region issues were emphasised on the agenda, particularly the nuclear testing being carried out at the time in the Pacific by European nations, and its effects on the Pacific islands. Seventeen years later the WCC, through the leadership of the PCC, expanded their concern to include the fight against sea level-rise and the threatening impacts of climate change, which is important globally, but the Pacific Island nations are particularly threatened. In the past few decades, there has been mounting evidence of harm caused to Pacific peoples and their environments by nuclear testing and proliferation, from sea level rises and extreme weather events in the region. This is a result of changing global temperatures and weather patterns. In response to these data, the PCC developed a theology of care for the environment by promoting the responsibilities and unity of Christians in safeguarding God’s creation, and combining this with a cry for social justice for the powerless.

Over the past two decades, the PCC and the WCC have made a series of declarations which affirm their commitment to environmental justice. On March 2004, in Kiribati, the WCC officially announced the Otin Tai Declaration, where church leaders and participants in the Pacific Churches’ Consultation on Climate Change affirmed their commitment not only to care for the earth as a response to God’s love for creation, but also the need to respond urgently to the seriousness of the human-induced climate change to the lives, livelihoods, societies, cultures and eco-systems of the Pacific Islands. The Declaration was clear—that the mainline churches no longer treat climate change as an individual denominational issue, but rather an ecumenical issue. Hence, climate change is an issue which ought to be addressed communally, with churches coming together and collaborating in unity. Even though these declarations represented the shifting of perspective from individual to collective in treating climate issues, the PCC did not translate the talking into action.

On April 2009 in Fiji the leaders of the PCC along with WCC staff, collaborated and adopted the Moana Declaration (MD)—“Our Oikos—a new consciousness on climate change and our call to action” (WCC, 2009). This appeared to be a significant initiative of the PCC, especially in summoning church leaders to advance their ecumenism on climate change and to address its adverse effects on the Pacific islands. The Pacific church leaders presented 12 declarations, including: respecting and protecting the rights of climate migrants; developing plans and framework to accommodate the rights of climate migrants; identifying resources for relocation and resettlement; and conducting public consultations with Pacific communities affected by climate change.

In Fiji on April 2017, PCC leaders, with representatives from communities and civil society organisations, put forward the Statement on Seabed Mining, calling upon the Government of Papua New Guinea and other Pacific Island nations to discontinue any activity or development regarding Seabed Mining technology in lands and seas (PCC, 2017). In August of the same year, PCC leaders met in Auckland, New Zealand and adopted the Moana Calls For Action (MCFA). This was a significant move made by PCC leaders after decades of talanoa, cooperation and collaboration among themselves about these issues. It was time to take action rather than keeping these issues at the talanoa and meeting level. In the MCFA, there were 7 main issues of call for action which included: 1) Self-determination, 2) Seabed mining; 3) Pacific diaspora; 4) Leadership in the church; 5) Church-state relations, 6) Influx of new religions movements, and 7) PCC membership fees. At this point, it appeared that the PCC was finally moving onto taking concrete action.

However, PCC leaders, representatives from communities, and civil society organisations are still stuck in the talanoa and meeting level. One key reason for this has been the lack of a method or model to follow in translating the environmental ideas into actions. Hence, another initiative was developed—Reweaving the Ecological Mat (REM). REM was jointly developed by Pacific Theological College (PTC), the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC), and Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies (OCACPS) of the University of the South Pacific (USP), beginning in 2017. The purpose of REM was basically twofold. First, to guide the partners and their members’ engagement in addressing today’s ecological crisis. Second, to provide governments in the Pacific with alternatives (which includes using theological, biblical, and indigenous lenses) to development as it had been pursued in the past. REM was also intended to generate ideas and situate development in the Pacific region in a new frame.

In 2020, REM escalated to the next stage of its development and published a book, Reweaving the Ecological Mat Framework: Toward an Ecological Framework for Development.^[3] The titular framework actually comprised three frames―theology, economics, and cultures/spirituality. At the centre of these three frames is relationality, and relationality is used as a measurement, by fully recognising and respecting the balance and harmony of all diverse interwoven strands of life. The framework opens with a situational description of the Pacific and how the neoliberal model of economic development does not fit the Pacific context as a whole. The neoliberal model is fuelled by addiction to never-ending growth. When growth is “based on non-renewable resource extraction and exploitation, [it] is not compatible with but destructive to the wellbeing of our one common home, Earth” (UNEP, 2019). The framework emphasises how REM applies an ecological framework towards development in the Pacific.

The authors of REM claim that the neoliberal economic development model mainly benefits the richest minority, and the most powerful individuals/collectives of the world, but not the majority of the world’s population, including those who live in the Pacific. The neoliberal model of economic development promotes the same attitude which White identified and criticised in his analysis of the environmental effects of Western Christianity. It is a model that is based on “sucking up the resources of the earth, cutting down trees, polluting water, pumping industrial waste into the atmosphere, ploughing up wetlands, and mining in ecologically sensitive spaces.”^[4] The neoliberal model has affected the Pacific in various ways such as the heavy reliance on imported processed foods, market-pushed consumerism, environmental destruction due to commercial logging operations, and oil spills in Solomon Islands in 2019, to name just a few.^[5]

There are a number of ways in which this publication was important. It embraces the diversity of small economies, small communities, and small ways of stewardship/resilience that promote abundance of life. It promotes the restoration of power to the everyday economies in the margins by bringing them from the margins to the centre. It also enlightens those who have been pushed into the margins, like the Pacific Island nations, to re-centre their spirituality and ecologically relational values. Every life on Earth is intimately and dynamically interconnected; Earth is home to God, humanity, and all creatures; and the kingdom of God is for the Earth and people to take seriously, because each bit is part of the whole. However, although REM is based on various research from across the globe and Pacific, it is more focused on theory than on providing practical strategies. Although the book has considered the diverse political realities, it does not provide ways to translate these theoretical frameworks into strategies either for the Pacific or for other political contexts.

It’s essential to highlight and acknowledge the achievements of the PCC in addressing climate change since its establishment in 1966 and how effective they have been to date. The PCC has managed to develop a theology of care for nature and continuous proclamation about the significance of Christian responsibilities in respecting and safeguarding God’s creation. The PCC has also made a series of declarations and statements about their serious commitment to respond urgently to the ecological crisis, that climate change is an ecumenical issue, and has issued a call for action. This sounds hopeful but good words and intention do not mean much when action fails to follow. This is evident when the PCC declared their Moana Call For Action in 2017, but continue to fail to live up to their commitment to action. I cannot deny the merit of the REM Framework: it not only embraces the Pacific theologies, cultures and economies, but highly values local knowledge, wisdom, and concepts in addressing climate change in the Pacific. Ultimately, however, it comprised more of the same: talking and meeting. Since then, the talking and meetings have continued.

Outside these organisations, though, lie some grassroots church initiatives. The final post in this series will discuss work being done on the ground in Tonga, one example which emphasises the significance of the role of the PCC via the Tonga National Council of Churches and Tonga Forum of Church Leaders, and which shows in what areas of action PCC is most needed. That is, providing more financial assistances on co-creating and implementing concrete actions on the local church level. There is a need for a greater focus on mobilising the massive organisational resources that churches own and use them effectively for the reduction of carbon emissions. It is critically important to make use of indigenous capacities to combat climate change.

This is the third in a series of four posts. Click here for the first post: A History of Care for God’s Creation within the Church: It’s Time to Walk the Talk! Click here for the second post: Lynn White Jr. and the Origin of Care for God’s Creation in the World Council of Churches. Click here for the fourth post: Churches and Climate Change in Tonga: A Real Measure of the Effectiveness of Pacific Conference of Churches’ Climate Works

Footnotes

[1] T. M. Vaioleti, ‘Talanoa Research Methodology: A developing position on Pacific Research’, Waikato Journal of Education 12 (2006), 21-43.

[2] Timote Masima Vaioleti, ‘Talanoa, Manulua and Founga Ako: Frameworks for Using Enduring Tongan Educational Ideas for Education in Aotearoa/New Zealand’ (PhD Thesis, University of Waikato, 2011), 115.

[3] Cliff Bird, Arnie Saiki, and Meretui Ratunabuabua, Reweaving the Ecological Mat Framework: Toward an Ecological Framework for Development (Pacific Theological College, 2020) (accessed 21 April 2023).

[4] Steve de Gruchy, “Oikos, God and the Olive Agenda: Theological Reflections on Economics and Environment,” 2007.

[5] Karen E. Charlton et al., ‘Fish, Food Security and Health in Pacific Island Countries and Territories: A Systematic Literature Review’, BMC Public Health 16, 1 (24 March 2016), 285; Jocelyn Linnekin, ‘Consuming Cultures: Tourism and the Commoditization of Cultural Identity in the Island Pacific’, in Tourism, Ethnicity, and the State in Asian and Pacific Societies, ed. Michel Picard and Robert E. Wood, (University of Hawaii Press, 1997), 215–50; ‘Logging Rate Unsustainable in Solomons, Admits Official’, RNZ, 5 June 2019; UNESCO World Heritage Centre, ‘Update on East Rennell Oil Spill, Solomon Islands’, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, (accessed 26 August 2024).

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Choose language:

Christians are familiar with the role of prophets in the Old Testament and later throughout the history of the Church. Prophets were called by God in specific eras/contexts to address various issues of concern. Prophets held various roles, including being spokespeople for God through sharing inspired messages, predicting future events, proclaiming God’s messages to the public, serving as moral/intelligent leaders and/or as critics/rebels/reformers of their societies.^[1] While prophets were known for delivering messages of impending danger and calamity, they also sent messages of encouragement and hope to God’s people. I argue that the American historian Lynn T. White Jr. was a prophet of the ecological crisis in the 1960s. The seeds of his message were later grown into the tree of the care for God’s creation in the World Council of Churches (WCC).

The history of environmentalism under the WCC can trace its beginning to the variety of reactions to White’s famous article, “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis”, in 1967.^[2] White argued that the ecological crisis has deep religious roots, tying it to Western Christianity’s long-standing view that humanity has dominance over nature. White’s article was instrumental in bringing to light the imbrication of Christians’ behaviours and ideologies with environmental damage, and pushing organisations within and between churches to grapple with this legacy and the way forward. In this post, I will connect the intellectual engagement with climate change history to the past and current response of the World Council of Churches (WCC) to the climate crisis.

White’s work was compelling, in part, due to the broader context in which it was published: the rising tide of passionate science communications about the consequences of human exploitation on the environment which became prominent in the 1960s, and an undeniable series of major environmental disasters. In the United States, for example, there was widespread smog in New York City and Los Angeles, a significant oil spill in Santa Barbara in February 1969, and fires in the Cuyahoga River in June of the same year. All of these events received widespread public attention in news reporting and caused alarm and concern for Americans.^[3]

In addition to these events, a series of landmark publications grabbed public attention. Rachel Carson’s 1962 book Silent Spring accused the chemical industry of sending disinformation to the public, hiding the truth about the detrimental effects of DDT (a pesticide) on the environment. Carson also blamed government officials for approving the chemical industry’s marketing campaign without questioning.^[4] Paul Ehrlich’s book The Population Bomb, originally published in 1968, brought severe ecological events and the human exploitation of the environment together, helping the public become aware that these issues were all connected. For instance, rapid population growth amounted to rising demands over limited resources, which led to imprudent decisions about resource use. The environmental events around them, plus the effective communication in these texts, pushed the American public to demand change.^[5] This spread to other countries as well.

White’s article attributed the exploitative attitude described in Carson’s and Ehrlich’s work to Christianity’s creation narratives, such as Genesis 2, which declared humanity the centre of creation while relegating nature to a supporting role, serving humanity. According to many ecologists who published after White, because of this Christian belief, Christians had tended to exploit nature for their own gains regardless of the harms being done to the environment and to other species.^[6] This strikingly contrasted with many indigenous peoples’—including Tongans’—beliefs and practices prior to their interaction with European Christian missionaries. Tongans believed in the interconnection and the oneness of creation, and that human beings were just a part of, and not the centre of, creation. We will pick up the story of Tongan churches’ responses to climate change in a later post.

White suggested that Christianity had to revisit its values and beliefs in order to find new approaches to understanding the relationship between humanity and the environment. This included the need for Christianity to transform the theology that declares humanity to have dominion over nature. Although White strongly blamed Western Christianity for the roots of the ecological crisis, his paper did not represent a rejection of Christianity. As he argues, “Since the roots of our trouble are so largely religious, the remedy must also be essentially religious.”^[7] White proposed some approaches that Christianity could adopt. For example, Christianity needed to revisit its values and beliefs that embrace the environment—such as preserving, respecting and protecting God’s creation (Gen 2:15; Psa 24:1)—and build on those aspects. Another example was to follow the footsteps of Saint Francis of Assisi, especially his care for nature.^[8]

In the past fifty-six years, many have responded to White’s thesis, both in support of and against his arguments. Globally, this has led to some changes in various church denominations; while Anglicans/Episcopalians have mobilised in support of environmentalism, other church denominations (e.g. Pentecostals and Evangelicals) have strengthened their anti-environmentalism. Some churches are denying climate change while others are revisiting their Christian theology and the indigenous cultures of the places where they are based. Though churches have taken different positions on climate change, it is important to highlight how White’s prophetic message had a significant impact on churches and how they have responded to the natural environment throughout the past six decades.

The solutions he proposed in his prophesies have been largely heeded, too; the Christian alignment with environmentalist theologies has been significant, as is represented by the approach taken by the World Council of Churches (WCC). The WCC comprises most of the world’s Orthodox churches (Eastern and Oriental), African Instituted, Anglican, Assyrian, Baptist, Evangelical, Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist, Moravian, Old-Catholic, Pentecostal, Reformed, United/Uniting and Free/Independent churches, Disciples of Christ and Friends (Quakers). WCC has a long history, from the 1960s to the present day, of caring for the wellbeing of humanity and the environment, especially in its concerns over nuclear weapons testing and proliferation. Through most of its history, the WCC has crusaded for disarmament. WCC’s environmentalism has been encouraged and supported throughout the years via its member churches across the globe. The ecumenical mission, social justice, environmental and other issues of concern/interest in the Pacific region have led to the formation of the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) as a part of the WCC structure and governing bodies in the mid-1960s, the subject of my next post. And yet, for all its claims to care for the environment, and as we will see in the following post, the response of the WCC to environmental issues has been confined to conversations and meetings, without concrete initiatives happening on the ground.

This is the second in a series of four posts. Click here for the first post: A History of Care for God’s Creation within the Church: It’s Time to Walk the Walk! Click here for the third post: The Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) and Practical Initiatives Addressing the Climate Crisis. Click here for the fourth post: Churches and Climate Change in Tonga: A Real Measure of the Effectiveness of Pacific Conference of Churches’ Climate Works

Footnotes

¹ Dorothy Emmet, ‘Prophets and Their Societies’, The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 86, 1 (1956), 13–23.

² Lynn T. White, Jr., ‘The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis’, Science 155 (March 1967), 1203-7.

³ Michigan in the World and the Environmental Justice HistoryLab, ‘“Environmental Crisis” in the Late 1960s · Exhibit · Give Earth a Chance: Environmental Activism in Michigan’, Projects of the U-M History Department (accessed 31 July 2024).

⁴ Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (Houghton Mifflin, 1962). For a reflection on its significance, see: Dorothy McLaughlin, ‘Silent Spring Revisited | Fooling With Nature | FRONTLINE | PBS’, n.d. (accessed 31 July 2024).

⁵ Paul Ehrlich, The Population Bomb (Ballantine Books, 1968). Further discussed in “Environmental Crisis” in the Late 1960s · Exhibit · Give Earth a Chance: Environmental Activism in Michigan’.

⁶ Paul Collins, God’s Earth: Religion as if Matter Really Mattered (A Dove Publication, 1995), 87; Peter Harrison, “Having Dominion: Genesis and the Mastery of Nature,” in R. J. Berry, ed, Environmental Stewardship: Critical Perspectives – Past and Present (T & T Clark International, 2006), 21; Thomas Sieger Derr, “Lynn White and his Magical Essay – Religion’s Responsibility for the Ecological Crisis: An Argument Run Amok”; Lisa Sideris, “Environmental Ethics, Ecological Theology and Natural Selection,” in R. J. Berry, ed., Environmental Stewardship: Critical Perspectives – Past and Present (T & T Clark International, 2006), 160, just to name a few.

⁷ White, 1207.

⁸ ibid., 1208.

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Time and again the Church^[1] is reminded, “But be doers of the word and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.”^[2] On the global level, Anglicans, alongside Orthodox churches, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Quakers, Roman Catholics and Methodists, have long been alarmed by environmental issues, especially the threatening impacts of the climate crisis we are facing today. Yet research shows that most of these churches’ responses over the past five decades have been confined to discussions and meetings, rather than more concrete actions being implemented on the ground. There is a strong need for churches to take urgent concrete actions right now—all the talk agrees—and the consequences of not taking action will be particularly significant for the Pacific region. Considerable research has declared the Pacific Islands to be on the frontline of the climate crisis.^[3] Tonga (which serves as a case study in the series of posts which follow this one) is the second-most vulnerable nation on the globe in terms of the projected effects of natural disasters and climate change, yet the responses of most Tongan churches remain on the dialogue and meetings level.^[4]

In a forthcoming series of posts, I will discuss the history of the care for God’s creation within the Church across three ecumenical organisational levels: 1) World Council of Churches (Global), 2) Pacific Conference of Churches (Regional), and 3) Tonga National Council of Churches/Tonga Forum of Church Leaders (Local). In this first post I will discuss the importance of taking seriously the threatening impact of climate change in our lives, and the need for churches to take action urgently. Next, I will engage with what has been the past/current response of the World Council of Churches and Pacific Conference of Churches to the environmental crisis, by emphasising the prophetic role of Lynn White Jr and the ways his argument disrupted the status quo for churches, leading later to the development of church-environmentalism and the establishment of the Pacific Conference of Churches. In the third post, I will discuss the response of the Pacific Conference of Churches to climate change. This is important because it will show what the churches have done and the outcomes of those actions. Finally, in the fourth post, I will outline how the Tonga National Council of Churches/Tonga Forum of Church Leaders has responded to the climate issue and what has been achieved so far. I will highlight what that means for the South Pacific Anglican structure of a Three Tikanga Church, and close with some recommendations, gesturing towards a way forward in caring for God’s creation.

‘Care for God’s creation’ has been a crucial principle underpinning many church communities, including the Anglican Church and its mission, for over 50 years now. In the Pacific context, the influence of churches on various aspects of life is strong, affecting peoples’ perspectives, behaviour and responses in relation to environmental issues. As such, it is important to explore ways in which churches can be more productive and proactive, as doing so in turn will empower their members to act in ways which demonstrate care for God’s creation. Within the household of the Anglican Church, the care for God’s creation is important because of the effects of the climate crisis on our lives and livelihoods, and also because it is the fifth Mark of Mission.^[5] Through the Anglican Communion Environment Network (ACEN), the Anglican church is committed to protect, preserve, and renew the earth. I cannot overemphasise how crucial it is that we take action, not only because we as humanity are a part of the earth’s body, but we are also dependent on its environment/resources for survival and flourishing. Without a healthy environment, humanity will not be healthy. Each day we are dependent on the earth’s air to breathe, its water to drink, its food to eat. It is of prime importance for humanity to realise that our continued existence is dependent on the earth. We must take care for God’s creation seriously and act urgently in addressing the climate crisis of today.

This is the first in a series of four posts. Click here for the second post: Lynn White Jr. and the Origin of Care for God’s Creation in the World Council of Churches. Click here for the third post: The Pacific Conference of Churches and Practical Initiatives Addressing the Climate Crisis. Click here for the fourth post: Churches and Climate Change in Tonga: A Real Measure of the Effectiveness of Pacific Conference of Churches’ Climate Works

Footnotes

¹ Every time the word ‘Church’ appears with the capital ‘C’ and without a modifier in front, I refer to the whole Christian church, encompassing various denominations.

² James 1:22, The Bible (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, 2022).

³ R. K. Pachauri and L. A. Meyer, eds, Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2014). Ministry for Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Climate Change and Communications [MEIDECC], Kingdom of Tonga Third National Communication on Climate Change, December 2019, 12; E. H. Havea, ‘Climate Change Education in Tongan secondary schools’ (PhD diss., University of Waikato, 2020); Dhrishna Charan, Kushaal Raj, Ravneel Chand, Lionel Joseph, and Priyatma Singh, ‘At the Frontline of Climate Change: Adaptation, Limitations and Way Forward for the South Pacific Island States’, in Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Strategies for Coastal Communities, ed. W. Leal Filho, (Springer, Cham: 2018), 69–85.

⁴ Peter Mucke, ed., WorldRiskReport 2020; Focus: Forced Displacement and Migration (Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft And Ruhr University Bochum – Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV), 2020), 7. The World Risk Report has been published annually since 2011 by Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft. Since 2017, the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) at the Ruhr University Bochum has been responsible for the scientific management and calculation of the World Risk Index contained in the report. The figures published this summer by the UN Refugee Agency are alarming: almost 80 million people are currently fleeing their homes, and refugees at the EU’s external borders and internally-displaced persons in their own countries continue to die every day.

⁵ The Five Marks of Mission are widely accepted by Anglicans across the globe. These five mission statements offer a practical guide to the holistic nature of mission. The fifth mark of mission states: “To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and re-new the life of the earth”. See ‘Five Marks of Mission’, Anglican Schools of Aotearoa New Zealand & Polynesia (blog) (accessed 29 July 2024), and Anglican Communion Office, ‘Anglican Communion: History’, (accessed 29 July 2024), for further details.

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