A UN office building without any light switches that’s also a power station

After a taxing day in Nairobi working to finalise a declaration of African faith leaders on climate change, it was good to take a break and a tour with some senior African clergy of an amazing new office building constructed here on the UN’s Gigiri compound to house staff of the UN Environment Programme. (Our SAFCEI/AACC/Procmura conference was kindly hosted by UNEP.)

‘Climate justice for sustainable peace in Africa’

African faith leaders gathered to discuss climate change at UNEP in Nairobi. Not yet panicking.

[I was part of the team that drafted this statement.]

A message from African faith leaders to the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), from 29 November – 9 December 2011 in Durban, South Africa. 

You must treat the earth well. It was not given to you by your parents. It is loaned to you by your children. – Kikuyu proverb

1. Introduction 

Africa is a continent of the faithful. We gathered as African faith leaders at UNEP in Nairobi, Kenya on 7^th and 8^th June 2011, to discuss climate change and how it will be addressed at COP17.

Scientific reports indicate that climate change may well be the greatest threat that humanity has ever faced, with, on current targets,