One of the best comment pieces we have seen after the COP26 meetings in Glasgow last November comes from Kuki Rokhum who works with EFICOR in India. Kuki is a veteran COP-attender (unlike your editor, who has managed to not attend any COP meeting up to now!) and does a good job of expressing why, after so many conferences, she continues to be encouraged, particularly by the increasing (and increasingly visible) response of the church. (For a whole list of other evaluation articles, click here.)

Here is a portion of what she had to say (click here for the whole piece):

So why was this COP different and what gives me hope and why am I more hopeful?
The biggest difference this year was that it was a meeting that was organized in the midst of a global pandemic – a pandemic that has changed lives and obviously impacted the way in which COP was conducted and also dictated a lot of the logistics at the venue. The usual hub and noise of COP with civils society organisations actively engaged seemed to be missing to a certain extent. The ‘hybrid’ or exclusive online sessions meant that technology had to be of the highest quality and that many speakers and participants did not have to travel all the way to the venue thus avoiding even more carbon footprint.

This was also a different COP as the ‘world’ had an extra year to prepare for it as it was postponed from 2020. The biggest advantage of this was the anticipation and talk about COP26 on many media platforms before it happened. The social media world was inundated with posts about the event which was a welcome change to previous years where very little is known about the event at all in popular media…

In previous COPs, we had some Christian engagement – I remember addressing a group of church leaders at a church breakfast event in Lima talking about why we should be interested in the COP happening in their city, there were similar but small scale events in Paris and Bonn too. Glasgow was completely different. It was so encouraging to see Christian young people across the world and especially in the UK taking this up and making their voices heard…

I have had the privilege of speaking in churches or Christian events in previous COP venues. This was the first time that I found myself ‘extremely busy’ speaking at many church events speaking, leading prayers, joining in worship – all related to COP. And I was not the only speaker – there were several others who were equally or even busier than I was. When the team that I was travelling with arrived by train to Glasgow we arrived at St. George’s Tron church – right in the heart of the city. That church became a hub for so many services and events related to the COP. Most events fully booked! There were so many networks and groups working together to inform and engage with people from all over the world. It was exciting to see how much better we had become at working together. I am hopeful as there so many more churches who have realized that creation care is an issue of Christian discipleship and are committing and calling for more action.

Read the whole piece here.

And we thought – why should churches in Indian have all the fun? What about the rest of the world? Here’s Kuki’s message, with resources linked below. We’re not sure how many of you can use the Hindi versions, but you might find the English helpful. If you’d like to communicate with Kuki, send us a note at creationcare@lausanne.org and we’ll send it on to her:

We are facing the destruction of the environment and loss of biodiversity like never before – destruction of land and forests, increase in pollution, the climate crisis, and overuse of natural resources. The resources and natural systems that we depend on are starting to collapse. Pandemics, like the current COVID-19 crisis, will threaten us more frequently if biodiversity loss is not slowed. It is more urgent than ever to restore damage to creation. 

It is that time of year when we observe one Sunday in the month of June as Eco-Sunday. The theme for this year is “LIVING IN PEACE WITH NATURE”. When God created the world he placed human beings in a garden – which had all that was needed for sustainable living – a storehouse of all the needs, a beautiful place where all creation lived in harmony.

We invite you to join us this year to focus on Nature – how can we as Christians take care of God’s beautiful creation and all that live on this planet. We hope the package we have prepared will open our eyes and help us to think deeper on this. Due to the restrictions of the lockdown we are also aware that churches will not be able to meet together. Also unlike previous years we are not able to print the package – which in many ways also helps in preserving forests as we use less paper. Please use these resources as appropriate for your congregation or group. 

Check the following materials (poster, booklet, sample sermon, feedback form). We’ve left out the Hindi versions, but if you want those, just ask!

We have received an update from EFICOR in India. The main bullet points are below; you can read their entire report here:

• All the agricultural lands were destroyed due to entering the saline water and the crops were collapsed. 
• Almost all thatched houses are marooned in the flood water, all the furniture were destroyed and nothing is left in their hands.
•  All the people are in the evacuation centre and consuming the food that is available in the centre.
• People are unable to maintain the social distance due to the crowd in the evacuation center. Due to this, people are fearful and in trauma.
• Health & Hygiene: The affected community is inundated with water and after three days slowly water began to recede and due to this high possibility of spreading the water borne diseases, skin infections, mosquito breeding and snake bites etc.
• The sanitation is a big challenge as most of them are practicing open defecation near highway and rail embankments. Mainly women and children are the most vulnerable to have easy access to various facilities like sanitation, drinking water and the issue of safety and security as most of them are living in relief camps. 
• Many livestock have been washed away in the floodwater, which is one of the household incomes of affected families. In most of the houses they rear the livestock as an alternative source of income, the most of the HHs, which have lost their livestock, are completely dependent upon their livelihood.
• The most vulnerable are women, aged, disable and children as they are deprived of access to various facilities and food assistance

Donations to EFICOR’s efforts can be made here.