Introduction

Imagine being given a gift by someone who loves you deeply. It is marked delicate & fragile' . You open it gingerly and discover planet earth and the further instructions 'Handle with care.' .............

The fragile and delicate present you have been given is not a plastic globe but the real thing!  With it is a DVD which has glorious images of the mountains, lakes, rivers, glaciers and the dazzling array of fauna and flora from the deepest seas to the highest peaks.  It also comes with a book of instructions from the Maker - The Bible - a manual on caring for the earth and all its creatures.

You browse gently through the images and towards the end you see receding glaciers dated to the 21st c. and animals - scores of them - which are marked up as likely to be extinct by 2050.  You pick up the bible and discover that every reference to the earth, the Creator, natural world, all its creatures, - creation, fall and redemption - have been highlighted, along with plentiful guidance on living lightly and justly with the earth and its people. The book is astonishingly full of highlighted passages and phrases, punctuated throughout by Sabbath rest and renewal.  The handbook has one great consistent theme - God made the world in all its splendour, power and diversity out of love.  The earth and all its creatures and humankind are bound to each other in a web of interrelationship with God. To humans God gave the responsibility to care for His created works. You close the book, gently lay down the planet, fold up the "Handle with care" paper and shut your eyes.  You feel the desolation of the planet, the pain of the natural world, and the danger to every part of the earth for if the planet suffers, we suffer and we have nowhere else to go. You know it has to be different.  You know that you are required to be involved in the change.   

Have we lost sight of ourselves as being a part of nature, part of God's creation? In our eagerness to "progress" and "develop" have we lost sight of the finite and delicate nature of the earth and humanity's place in it?  But Christ is our hope, our light into the darkness of this world.  Following Christ opens new horizons and offers alternative yardsticks to the way we live. So we return to the Instructor's manual to rediscover ways of sustainable living, to restore the balance in God's earth that we might live joyfully and simply in the garden He has lent us.

 

To obtain more information, including some biblical background and theological reflections on Climate Change click on the link below labelled 'The Makers Instructions'; this free download is based on the Introduction to 'Walking More Lightly a Climate-Change Action Kit for Churches' by Anne Martin (former CCOW Trustee).

Praying and Preaching on Climate Change

Father we confess that we have been blind to how our lives impact others, and especially the poorest communities. Father, we confess that we have taken the earth for granted, using fossil fuels without a second thought and failing to recognise our part in the problem of Climate Change. Father, we turn back to you and ask you to help us to live simpler lives and to be much more careful in all the resources we use - because it is your earth.
Lord we trust that you are in charge and you can help us to change and live in a way that allows the earth to sustain life for all. Amen

The churches' calendar offes a rich variety of opportunites to bring our concern for climate change into worship. Covenant services, Rogation Sundays, Lent, Environment Day (around 5th June), Harvest Festival and One World Week are all appropriate occasions. More recently the European Christian Environmental Network -- and as of 2008 Churches Together in Britain and Ireland -- have promoted 'Creation Time' (1 September to 4 October) - as a special season to focus on creation. 

The prayer above (adapted) is part of a Service on the theme of Climate Change which can be downloaded by clicking on the 'Service' link below. Other sources for liturgy on climate change include:

Probably the most comprehensive set of worship resources on climate change currently available are those put together by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland as part of the Creation Time initiative. The available resources include two series of sermon notes, one based around the Lord's prayer and one around the lectionary readings for the period; a complete service and a wonderful 90-page book of prayer materials.

Christian conservation organisation A Rocha has done a great deal to promote Environment Sunday (held near the 5th of June). Their 2008 resource is based on Dave Bookless' Planetwise, and includes service materials, bible studies relating to Planetwise, recorded talks by climate experts, sermon notes, short video clips, powerpoints, and material for children and youth. It costs £10 and can be ordered from the A Rocha website's Environment Resource Packs page. Their 2007 resource, "The Heat is On: Climate Change and Christian Faith" is also very relevant. It contains worship material, sermon notes and powerpoint illustrations, as well as scientific background information and materials for use with children. It is no longer available for order, but can be borrowed from CCOW. The 2005 and earlier packs can be downloaded directly from the website, with a suggested donation of £5.

Christian Ecology Link offers a rich variety of resources for worship and study, including liturgies, prayers, sermon notes and a daily prayer guide. It also has a various useful page with links to worship resources, which refers you to material from many Christian environmental and development organisations.

Eco-Congregation's Module 2 "Celebrating Creation" has a delightful range of prayers and imaginative worship ideas around the theme of creation, including a plan for all-age worship, a list of hymns (from various traditions) with a Creation theme, and reflections on familiar Biblical stories. Module 3 -- "Creation and Christianity" -- looks at some theological underpinnings for environmental concern, while Module 6 -- "Exploring God's Green Word" -- offers material for House Groups and two sets of five multi-part Bible studies. All modules can be downloaded from the Ecocongregation website.

The European Christian Environmental Network has liturgical material, including the new booklet "A Time for God's Creation,"  on its website as part of its invitation to all the churches in Europe to celebrate "creation time" in the Church calendar each year, from 1 September to the second Sunday in October.

Operation Noah, the CTBI climate campaign, has a new resource to enable a day of "prayer, fasting and campaign against climate change." Operation Noah's website also offers an "inspiration" section with theological reflections on climate issues.

 

 

Campaigns

Many christian organisations (ecumenical and denominational) are actively campaigning to raise awareness and promote action on Climate Change

Operation Noah This ecumenical programme of Christian Ecology Link, supported by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI), focuses specifically on campaigning on Climate Change. Its aim is to raise awareness in the churches but also to demonstrate demand among the mainstream British public for UK leadership on climate change.  Ann Pettifor (formerly of Jubilee 2000) has been appointed Director (January 2007). Noah's prophetic actions to protect life on earth is a guide for our times.   The covenant which God signed with Noah and with all creatures after the flood forms the basis of their Climate Covenant in which individuals pledge actions to cut the carbon, switch to renewable supplies of electricity and spread the word. The website includes the 'Ark in a Box' - a package of resources, DVDs, resource sheets (resources which complement those of Eco-congregations) to help create the culture of justice for the poor. www.operationnoah.org/   email: info@operationnoah.org   Tel 0845 233 5399 

Christian Ecology Link (CEL) campaigns for a greener church and a greener world.  It is a multi-denominational UK organisation, to support Christians from all traditions demonstrate their care for the environment. CEL believes that we are responsible for our impact on God's creation as a whole and helps members to understand and relate these responsibilities to their faith.   It offers a range of publications,  ‘Green Christian’ magazine  where spirituality and the environment are key topics;  several topic leaflets eg 'Climate change: What Christians can do? '  'An environmental audit for churches'; 'Energy Use in Church Buildings'; 'Water – why water is important for Christians'; ‘Green’ shopping; 'LOAF – local, organic, animal friendly, and fairly traded' and 'Eight Ways to live gently on the earth'. CEL has an email newsletter which is good way of keeping abreast of news, events and critical issues where your action can make a difference.    www.christian-ecology.org.uk

A Rocha – an international conservation organisation working to care for God’s world.   A Rocha is now a family of projects working across the world, its work identified by five core commitments and to a practical outworking of each:  Christian, Conservation, Community, Cross-cultural and Cooperation in partnership with a wide variety of organisations who share a concern for a sustainable world.   A Rocha promotes Environment Day on 5th June and produces good materials for use on that day.  www.en.arocha.org  Tel 01387 710286  email: international@arocha.org.  www.climatestewards.org.uk - a branch of A Rocha, runs projects managed by their partners to help off-set carbon emissions.

 The John Ray Initiative (JRI) is an educational charity with a vision to bring together scientific and Christian understandings of the environment in a way that can be widely communicated and lead to effective action as responsible stewards.  www.jri.org.uk Denominational ProgrammesThe Methodist/United Reformed Church Creation Challenge Environmental Network. Relatively newly-established, the two churches together seeks to inspire churches and individuals to take direct action against climate change and make a commitment to caring for the environment, building on the environment statements of the churches.  The Creation Challenge Coordinator sends out monthly newsletters to subscribers. www.methodist.org.uk/static/econetwork. 

 

Shrinking the Footprint www.shrinkingthefootprint.cofe.anglican.org/   Shrinking the Footprint, the Church of England’s national environment campaign, was launched in June 2006, the first of a series of strategic initiatives aimed at creating "The 40% Church".  Churches are encouraged to carry out a simple environmental audit to help plan how to reduce their emissions.  Shrinking the Footprint offers information, links resources for churches, including "Sharing God's Planet: a Christian vision for a sustainable future" a report from the Church of England. Live Simply (www.livesimply.org.uk)Launched in November 2006, Live Simply is an initiative of the Catholic Church in England. It is based on the radical idea: that God calls us to live a new kind of life, in solidarity with the community, motivated by faith.  People are asked to look hard at their lifestyles, and to choose to live simply, sustainably and in solidarity with the poor; to work for justice and share.  Support is growing also from both Catholics and non Catholic. 

Living Witness .     (www.livingwitness.org.uk)The Living Witness Project is a growing network of Quaker meetings and groups in Britain, exploring their corporate witness to sustainable living and practice equality, simplicity, justice and peace which are at the heart of Quaker spiritual practice.  Tearfund (www.tearfund.org) have focused on climate as a key priority for some years, and offers major reports, stories and other resources as the effects of climate change bite into the lives of vulnerable communities across the globe. Tearfund's "For Tomorrow Too" is provided in the pack, along with its pledge card.  In February 2007 it launched its challenge "Don't be a Derek". 

Christian Aid (www.christian-aid.org) is now making climate change a key campaign priority, its partners increasingly telling of the impact on the lives of the poor communities they serve. Following its "Climate of poverty" report 2006 came 'It's time to change the climate" highlighting key facts reflection, prayers, a carbon calculator, news from their partners, and practical actions and a statement of belief.  In February it launched its new campaign, backed by commercial advertising and strong political campaign on its pressureworks website. 

World Development Movement, (www.wdm.org) created originally by the churches, WDM has launched its °C Change Campaign to emphasise the responsibility of rich countries like the UK for climate change, while poor countries bear the brunt of the impact.  WDM's campaign is calling on the UK government to act now and transform our economy to reduce our carbon emissions.  Stop Climate Chaos - www.stopclimatechaos.org   is a new and growing coalition of UK environmental and international development organisations as well as women's organisations, activist groups and faith-based campaigns. It aims to build irresistible popular pressure on politicians to act to halt climate change. Combining with like-minded bodies in other countries it will work to ensure that other Governments do the same.  www.icount.org.uk

Resources on Climate Change

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Some Books to Read

Policy, Science, Lifestyle Change and Theology: Books with a Christian Perspective

A Moral Climate: The Ethics of Global Warming. Michael Northcott, Christian Aid/DLT, 2007. 

Caring for Creation: Biblical and theological perspectives. Edited by Sarah Tillett, forward by John Stott - contributors include: Eugene Peterson, John Houghton, Sam Berry, Chris Wright. A valuable contribution that links theology and practical work.

Cherishing the Earth: How to Care for God's Creation. Margot and Martin Hodson, Lion 2008.  An engaging look at the theology and practice of creation care.

Christianity, Climate Change and Sustainable Living. Nick Spencer and Robert White, SPCK 2007.  A thorough look by two experts at the realities of climate change, Biblical teaching on sustainability, and how Christians might implement those teachings in a time of global warming.

Eggs and Ashes. Ruth Burgess and Chris Polhill, Wild Goose Publications 2004. Focuses on the environment over the weeks of Lent, with beautiful prayers, hymns and ideas.

Global Warming: The challenge to all of us. Sean McDonagh, Columbia Press, 2007. A good description of climate change and its predicted impacts, together with a call for leadership from the Catholic Church in response to the impending crisis.

How Many Lightbulbs Does It Take to Change a Christian? and Don't Stop at the Lights! Leading Your Church through a Changing Climate. Claire Foster and David Shreeve, Church House Publishing, 2007 and 2008.  "Lightbulbs" offers hints for small changes that can make a difference;"Don't Stop" takes the message further and encourages churches to engage wholeheartedly in response to climate change.

Jesus and the Earth. James Jones, SPCK 2003. James Jones scans the New Testament for new insights on the links between Jesus and Creation.

Planetwise: Dare to Care for God's World. Dave Bookless, IVP, 2008.

When Enough Is Enough: A Christian Framework for Environmental Sustainability. Ed R J Berry, IVP, 2007. Experts from a wide range of fields examine the concept of sustainability. Contributors include Sir John Houghton, Donald Hay, Sir Ghillean Prance, Dave Bookless, Margot Hodson, John Wibberley, Sir Brian Heap and Flavio Comin.

Policy, Science and Lifestyle Change

The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review. Sir Nicholas Stern, CUP, 2007. "Costs" the impact of taking action -- or not doing so -- on climate change. Highly influential.

Heat: How We Can Stop the Planet Burning. George Monbiot, Penguin, 2007. How could we cut emissions by 90% by 2030? Monbiot offers some potential answers. Passionate and principled.

How to Live a Low-Carbon Life: The Individuals Guide to Stopping Climate Change. Chris Goodall, Earthscan, 2007. Practical, challenging, thorough . . . and fun. A very useful guide to lifestyle change.

Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet. Mark Lynas, Fourth Estate, 2007 or HarperPerennial, 2008. We've all heard of potential global warming of 1 to 6 degrees celsius. But what do those temperature increases actually mean for life on earth? Lynas offers a picture, degree by degree. . . .  

 

 

 

 

What Can I / My Church Do

God made the world in all its splendour, power and diversity out of love. The Earth and all its creatures and humankind are bound to each other in a web of interrelationship with God, who gave the responsibility to care for His created works to humans.

In our eagerness to "progress" and "develop" have we lost sight of the finite and delicate nature of the Earth and humanity's place in it? Do we recognise that we are but part of God's great plan. You can reduce your own carbon footprint by:

• Switching to renewable energy
• Eliminating waste
• Rethinking your transport
• Considering your Air travel requirements
• Adapting your lifestyle (eg food choices, water usage ,and waste recycling)

Testing Your Footprint

The following websites offer information on your carbon footprint:

www.imeasure.org.uk is a tool designed by the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University which enables you to monitor and learn about your domestic energy use and carbon emissions.

www.carboncalculator.org enables you to calculate the impact of your flight, and your car journeys by adding the carbon cost and the price if offsetting.

www.coinet.org.uk is the Climate Outreach and Information Network (COIN), based at Oxford University. In particular, COIN invites you to accept the carbon challenge to live within the personal limit of 2.5 tonnes of CO² at www.coinet.org.uk/projects/challenge/measure

Select the link labelled 'Church Action' to download information on lighting, heating and church transport as well as 'green' energy suppliers which you may use to help reduce your church's carbon footprint.

More Information

This page gives suggested links to help you  access authoritative information on Climate Change

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - www.ipcc.ch - assesses the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevent to an understanding of the risks of human-induced climate change.

The DEFRA website www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climate change is authoritative and has useful links to the Climate Challenge Programme.

The UK Met Office www.met-office.gov.uk has its research centre for climate change (Hadley Centre)

The BBC also considers climate change to be a 'hot topic' There is much general information on the BBC site www.bbc.co.uk and you can use the website search engine to find climate change issues or go directly to www.bbc.co.uk/sn/hottopics/climate change

Introduction to Debt Issues

For several decades, the crisis of developing country debt has been a cause of crippling poverty for many of the poorest countries and people in the world. As of the end of 2005, developing countries owed around $2.8 trillion in foreign debts, and the low income countries were paying about $118 million in debt service a day. In many countries, the amounts paid in debt service dwarfed governmental education and health budgets. As a consequence, millions of people were denied access to schooling or to even the most basic health services.

The debt crisis resulted from a variety of factors. In the early 1970s, a flood of "petro-dollars" made financial institutions eager to lend. The loans -- both from banks and through sovereign governments, the World Bank and IMF -- were often characterised by a lack of concern about the nature of the borrowers (ie whether they were democratic sovereign states or dictators), how the money would actually be used, and whether the borrowers had a reasonable capacity to repay. Indeed, all too often lending by governments was designed to promote markets for their goods abroad, or, during the Cold War, was based on political considerations. The World Bank, for example, loaned large sums to Mobutu Seseko of Zaire -- a dictator who was perceived as a bulwark against communism -- despite the explicit advice of their adviser.

Developing-country governments, meanwhile, borrowed at floating interest rates on the assumption that they would soon be able to repay -- but found that their exports were declining, interest rates were rising sharply, and the dollar, the currency of repayment, was increasing in value relative to their currencies. Particularly when this combined with slow growth in their own economies -- often due largely to the crisis in commodity prices, though governments' economic policies (as in developed countries!) also sometimes played a role-- the debt mountains quickly became unsustainable. The result was that in some of the poorest countries of the world, large sums that were critically needed for human development were, instead, going to repay wealthy countries' governments, the International Financial Institutions (World Bank and IMF), and commercial lenders.

For this reason, starting in the 1980s, there began to be calls for debt cancellation. Then, in the 1990s, as John Goldingay put it "Somebody saw that the Jubilee vision in Leviticus 25 pointed to the cancelling of punitive Third World debts to Western banks and governments, and this caught the imagination of millions of believers and others." The Jubilee campaigns -- in which Churches played a major role -- were large, effective, and bold in their calls.

Initial responses by governments and financial institutions were limited. After various piecemeal initiatives in the 1980s and 1990s, in 1996, major creditors responded to the campaigns and concerns by proposing the HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries) initiative, designed to reduce the debt burden of some of the poorest countries to "sustainable" levels, with sustainability determined by a ratio of debt stock to exports. The benefits to poor countries of this initiative, however, proved small and slow, and in 1999, the "enhanced HIPC initiative" was created.

Even an enhanced HIPC, however, had many failings. One of these was the often harsh economic policy conditions which the IMF and World Bank imposed on poor countries: in order to stay "on track" with the World Bank and IMF, countries had to adopt the policies they recommended, whether or not they were the policies the countries' governments would actually have chosen. Many of these policies -- including privatisation of resources and services and trade liberalisation -- are controversial. In Zambia, for example, the consequence of trade liberalisation was the destruction of the greater part of Zambian industry.

Another primary problem with HIPC was the fact that it offered debt relief and defined "debt sustainability" in terms relating to what a country could possibly pay its creditors, rather than in terms of what that country needed in order to be able to meet the basic development needs of its citizens. The Jubilee vision, as seen in Leviticus, is not that the poor should limp along, forever poor, paying all they can. It is a vision of a new start -- a release and chance to begin again. For several years, therefore, campaigners have been arguing that countries that need 100% debt relief to meet the Millennium Development Goals, and are prepared to use the funds released by 100% debt relief for human development, should receive it.

As Saul Banda, coordinator of the Lusaka-based Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection's Provincial Outreach Programme, put it in 2006: “Jubilee Zambia has been campaigning for unconditional and total cancellation of Zambia's and other Low Income Countries' external debts for the last eight years. This was after the realization among campaigners world-wide that external debts were blocking development in the Third World, because resources meant for investment in the social sectors (particularly health and education) and for infrastructural development were being spent on servicing external debts." Banda notes: “At the end of 2004, Zambia's external debt stood at US $7. billion with annual debt service payments of between $150 million and $200 million and accounted for as high as 10% of Gross Domestic Product; health and education accounted for only 2% and 3% respectively."

In recent years, in large part thanks to the efforts of campaigners, the once unthinkable concept of "100% debt relief" has become part of the political landscape. And in 2005, at Gleneagles, the G8 proposed 100% cancellation of World Bank, IMF and African Development Bank debt for countries that reached the HIPC Completion Point. This was a triumph for campaigners -- and for people in developing countries. Thanks to debt relief from the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI), Zambia is employing 4,500 more teachers and has abolished fees for medical care in rural areas. That makes a real difference in terms of lives saved and enriched.

But problems remain. The MDRI still pertains to only a relatively small number of countries; many more need the benefits that relief on their IMF and World Bank debts would offer. The MDRI deals only with debts to the World Bank, IMF, African Development Bank and, as of 2007, Inter-American Development Bank; it doesn't cover debts from the Asian Development Bank or various other lenders. And MDRI relief still comes with harmful conditionalities -- economic policy conditions that countries have to fulfill in order to stay "on track" with the World Bank and IMF. Indeed, generally speaking, the MDRI isn't fully transparent, and the determination of who qualifies and how the process operates still rests almost entirely with a small group of creditors. And no multilateral organisations, and almost no sovereign states and other creditors, are yet willing to take responsibility for their own part in creating the crisis through irresponsible or unfair loans.

So, rejoicing in what has been achieved, the debt campaigns continue to campaign for a true vision of Jubilee. Today their focus is on:

• including countries that are not currently part of the HIPC initiative in debt relief programmes
• expanding the number of creditors included in debt relief programmes
• ending economic policy conditionalities
• reforming the debt relief process so that it is fair and transparent
• reforming the International Financial Institutions (IMF and World Bank) so that they are more transparent and democratic
• convincing creditors to acknowledge the illegitimacy of much debt -- and the consequent need to cancel it

What keeps Christian debt campaigners going? The knowledge that millions of people -- many of them brothers and sisters in Christ -- are suffering and dying because of the effects of debt. The victories that show change can happen -- including the most recent actions by Norway, which has become the first country to renounce an illegitimate debt owed to it. And the theological truths that we are called as Christians to work for love and justice and that, as the Reverend Caroline Dick stated in a Church of England General Synod debate in 2001: our “act of witness for debt relief . . . reveals . . . the God of justice, of love and of peace at work in our world now.”

Praying and Preaching on Debt

The very name of the Jubilee campaigns indicates their Biblical origins, and many have Christian groups as founders or core members -- so worship materials in this area abound.

Prayer

Online Resources

God grant me your Spirit . . . .
That I may rest and work in the vision of a new future
Where all are linked by the bonds of humanity,
Not enslaved by the chains of debt.

Extract from "Grant me your spirit," a World Debt Day prayer by Linda Jones of CAFOD

Prayer on debt issues is appropriate at any time -- but especially on or around World Debt Day, celebrated in the UK on 16 May, the anniversary of the Birmingham G8 chain. "Grant me your spirit," a prayer for World Debt Day, can be found in full on the JDC worship resources page.

The JDC worship resources page also contains "Jubilee Worship," a compendium which includes

• materials for preparation (announcements, bulletin notes and thoughts for creating worship)
• an introduction to set the theological context
• facts and stories about the impact of debt
• an exploration of Jubilee
• a reading from Leviticus 25 with a litany to follow
• a Jubilee sermon (by Bono)
• prayers

Another JDC worship resource is a prayer pilgrimage called "Praying in Public Places: A Pilgrimage for Our Time ," put together by JDC Board member Merryn Hellier. "Praying in Public" invites Christians to walk to local places such as hospitals or surgeries, schools and banks to reflect on and pray about debt and the impact that it has on people's access to essential services. A very powerful service -- and act of witness.

Some of the materials on the JDC's worship resources page originally come from Jubilee USA, which published in 2005 its "Jubilee Congregations Handbook." This resource offered at the time everything a [US] church needed to engage with the campaign -- background information, stories about the impact of debt and debt relief, pages explaining the links between debt and other global issues, worship material (including a Roman Catholic liturgy for debt), Bible studies and more. The fact that it was written before the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative means that some of its background information is now outdated. But the liturgical material and Bible studies remain very helpful.

CAFOD offers a variety of prayers on debt relief.

Preaching

Online Resources

The Jubilee Congregations Handbook contains several suggested sermons, as well as theological reflections designed to inspire sermons. A sermon contributed by by David Golding is also on the JDC worship resources page.

Another invaluable resource is the linked lectionary entitled "Development Matters ," compiled quarterly by Dr. Elizabeth Perry and available on the Diocese of Bath and Wells' website. This resource takes the main lectionary readings for each week and links them with global-justice issues, providing facts, illustrations and quotes that preachers can use in their sermons. There are many illustrations concerning debt, and because the resource is created afresh each quarter, the examples are up to date.

Campaigns around Debt Issues

Do you remember the Birmingham Chain in 1998? The sense of excitement as churches and other groups began to recognise that their petitions and postcards were making a difference? The moment when governments and international institutions began to talk about 100% debt relief as a goal?

Campaigning on debt is one of the signal successes of the last decade. The job is far from done and dusted -- what debt cancellation is available is still offered to too few countries, covers too few forms of debt, and comes with too many conditions attached. But if anyone had said fifteen years ago that 100% debt relief would have been offered by any of the international financial institutions to any developing country, they would have been dismissed as dreamers. Jubilee 2000 and the international Jubilee campaigns helped to change the landscape of debate. As Jubilee 2000's final report said "The World Will Never Be the Same Again."

Jubilee 2000's successor campaign, Jubilee Debt Campaign, continues to call for 100% cancellation -- by fair and transparent means -- of unfair and unpayable developing country debts. Organised as a coalition of local/regional groups and national organisations, including CAFOD, Christian Aid, the United Reformed Church and World Vision, Jubilee Debt Campaign focuses its campaigning and advocacy work on UK Government policy, both internal and with respect to the International Financial Institutions (the World Bank and IMF). JDC works in partnership with two other UK-based successors to Jubilee 2000 -- Jubilee Research@nef and Jubilee Scotland -- as well as with other northern and southern debt-related campaigns.

You can find out more about JDC's goals by reading their vision statement "Breaking the Chains," sign up on their website to receive briefings and campaign materials, locate the JDC group nearest you via their listing of groups in the Southeast region), or find out how to become a Jubilee Congregation

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NEWSFLASH: JDC now has two ongoing campaigns. The newest is called "Pick up the Pace"  It asks the UK government to

1. Deliver the UK multilateral debt relief scheme to all of the poorest countries.

2. Cancel all developing countries' unpayable and unjust debts, including export credit debts.

3. Use the UK's  influence to persuade other rich countries, companies and institutions to cancel all unpayable and unjust poor country debts.

Postcards and a petition are available to support this campaign. You can find out more at the "Pick up the Pace" page on the JDC website.

The second campaign on unjust debts -- debts which are illegitimate because they were incurred by dictatorships, used for purposes of oppression (for example, Indonesians are paying the UK £300 million for weapons Suharto used against them) or were granted under unfair terms. For more information, go to the Lift the Lid pages on the JDC website.

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JDC's website also has a comprehensive listing of other northern and southern campaigns around debt and economic justice. The Northern campaigns include:

• The Bretton Woods Project, which offers a critique of the International Financial Institutions and includes up-to-the-minute news and analysis
• Eurodad , the European Network on Debt and Development, a coalition of 53 European NGOs working on debt, with a strong policy focus
• Jubilee USA Network,with a good website and strong resources for churches
  

The Southern campaigns include:

• Afrodad , the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development, which seeks policies that "will redress the African debt crisis based on a human rights value system."
• Jubilee South , a network of 85 anti-debt groups from over 40 countries in the Africa, Asia/Pacific, and Latin American regions. It is currently focusing on illegitimate debt. If you read Spanish and want to get a really good sense of where the Latin American campaigns are going, go to the Jubileo-Sur email archives.
• Jubilee Zambia , a national campaign founded in 1998 by the three major church groups in Zambia; its website contains many country-specific resources
  

What Can I Do?

Some Suggestions for Personal Action

• Commit to regular prayer about the debt issue. Go to our prayer page for suggested materials.
• Investigate the Scriptures surrounding Jubilee -- either on your own or with others. Some suggested guides are in the resources section.
• Join the Jubilee Debt Campaign email list. You'll receive updates and notice of campaigning actions you can take.If there's a local JDC group near you, join it. If not, what about starting one?
• Go to the JDC "Act Now" webpage and take part in an email campaign action.
• Dig deeper! Research some particular aspects of the debt issue. (You can find resources for research on our campaigns and further information pages). The research will make you better able to campaign and lobby.
• Use your information to lobby your MP (or other politicians)
• Write to your local newspaper, reminding people that debt still IS an issue and explaining why. Or . . .
  
• Be dramatic! Debt is an issue that has a dramatic effect on the lives of people in poor countries -- show this with some drama in the streets or in a particular venue. Clear visual statements often get coverage that words alone won't.

Do you have other examples of personal action? Email us at maranda@ccow.org.uk and let us know!

What Can My Church Do?

Raising Awareness

If your church is new to debt issues -- or if it participated in Jubilee 2000 but thinks that the issue is now resolved -- it might be good to raise awareness of what the ongoing issues are, perhaps through

• including prayers about debt in theyour regular services or planning a full service around debt,
• inviting a speaker to talk during and/or after a service,
• using some Bible studies about debt in your home group,
• displaying material about debt in the church, or
• including a theological reflection or news about one of the latest campaigns in your service leaflet or church magazine

You can find the resources for all of these in our praying and preaching section or by contacting CCOW or JDC. The prayer page also has a link to Merryn Hellier's "Praying in Public Places," a prayer walk in which church groups visit local surgeries or hospitals, schools and other locations to reflect on and pray about the impacts of debt on people in developing countries. It's a powerful service -- and act of witness. 

Jubilee Congregations

If your church is ready to make a commitment to ongoing prayer and action on debt, consider becoming a Jubilee Congregation.  Jubilee Congregations agree to "affirm the aims of the Jubilee Debt Campaign in their work to free poor people and countries from the burden of unjust and unpayable debt, pray for justice for the world’s poorest communities, provide a contact person to facilitate education and action on debt, make an appropriate annual donation for the work of the Jubilee Debt Campaign, and take at least one action a year on debt as a congregation." In return, the Jubilee Debt Campaign undertakes to resource the church by sending an action pack and certificate, news updates four to six times a year, and information about worship materials on the JDC website. You can find out more and sign up at the JDC website page on Jubilee Congregations.

Focusing on the Impact of Debt on Partnership Links

Whatever you do, if your church has partnership links with an area that is affected by debt, it may be particularly effective to focus on what is happening in that area. For example:

• the Wessex Synod of the United Reformed Church is linked with Zambia. Jubilee Zambia has plentiful material explaining what the impact of debt on Zambia has been, and further stories can be found through the Jubilee Congregations Handbook put together by Jubilee USA and the Anglican Diocese of Bath and Wells, which is also linked with Zambia.

  CCOW also has a more recent piece about debt, the results of debt relief, and the continuing problems with trade that was written by Saul Banda from Jubilee Zambia; portions of this were excerpted in the church materials for Stand Up Against Poverty, and you can receive the full text from CCOW.

• The Mothers' Union in the Diocese of Oxford is linked to several dioceses in Nigeria.  There is a campaign, New Start Nigeria, that focuses on Nigeria's debt.

Contact CCOW if your church has a link with a particular area and you would like information about debt in that area.

Resources on Debt

This is a selective list. More resources can be found via ELDIS and through the Choike "external debt" page as well as from individual agencies and coalitions.

Basic Introductions to Debt Issues

"The World Can't Wait for Debt Cancellation" is an accessible powerpoint presentation that reflects the status quo as of 2007.

"Top Line" information about the G8 debt deal and its implementation through 2007 (Eurodad, 2007), an accessible 2 page pdf giving a fine overview of the basics, is also a good entrance point to the present situation.

There is also a lot of good introductory material in "Jubilee Worship" and the Jubilee Congregations Handbook (see below) -- all of it compiled with specific reference to churches. Like the accessible and thorough "Rough Guide to Debt," (CAFOD, 2002) however, much of it doesn't reflect the most recent realities.

Theological and Worship Resources

• "Development Matters" Linked Lectionary -- links lectionary readings to development issues, including debt. Archive, with subject index.
• The JDC worship resources page contains
  • "Jubilee Worship," a compendium including
    • materials for preparation (announcements, bulletin notes and thoughts for creating worship)
    • an introduction to set the theological context
    • facts and stories about the impact of debt
    • an exploration of Jubilee
    • a reading from Leviticus 25 with a litany to follow
    • a Jubilee sermon (by Bono)
    • prayers
  • stories about the impact of debt and debt relief
  • pages explaining the links between debt and other global issues
  • worship material (including a Roman Catholic liturgy for debt)
  • Bible studies and more.

• "Praying in Public Places: A Pilgrimage for Our Time ," a prayer pilgrimage that invites Christians to walk to local places such as hospitals or surgeries, schools and banks to reflect on/pray about debt and the impact it has on access to essential services.
• "Jubilee Congregations Handbook" (Jubilee USA, 2005) This resource offered everything a [US] church needed to engage with the campaign in 2005. The fact that it was written before the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative means that some of its background information is now outdated. But the liturgical/theological material remains very helpful. It includes:

Church Statements Online

• Joint Letter from Seventeen Faith Leaders on Debt (2007) -- pdf of a short, clear letter urging further reform of the debt relief process from leaders including the Abp of York, Gen'l Sec'y of the Baptist Union, the Moderators of the Free Churches and the URC, and the Director of the EA.
• Church of England General Synod Misc 640 -- "Drop the Debt: Towards a New Deal on Debt" and July 2001 Synod debates on development and debt, which include some fine contributions from a variety of people.
• URC General Assembly: Address to the Throne 2002 -- on the occasion of the Queen's Jubilee reaffirms the URC's support for jubilee campaigning on debt relief and asks the government to progress the issue. To find a wide range of URC comments on the Church's commitment to debt relief, go to the United Reformed Church website and type Jubilee 2000 into the "search" box.

The MDRI

• "Top Line" information about the G8 debt deal and its implementation through 2007 (Eurodad, 2007) -- accessible 2 page pdf giving a fine overview of the basics
  
• Multilateral Debt: One Step Forward, How Many Back? (Eurodad, 2007) More detailed summary of the agreement and some of the challenges surrounding its implementation and the next stages.
  
• G8 Debt Deal One Year On: What Happened and What Next? (Eurodad, 2006)
  
• CAFOD submission to the International Development Select Committee (CAFOD, 2005) -- Brief (3 page) statement advocating a human development approach to debt sustainability and taking issue with aspects of eligibility for receiving debt relief and increased aid under the MDRI.
  
• Loose Ends (JDC and Jubilee USA, 2005) -- an analysis of what the World Bank/IMF needed to resolve at the annual meetings in order to deliver the G8 debt deal.
  
• G8 Debt Deal: What the Countries Will Really Get (Debt Relief International, 2005) -- A technical analysis of the deal's functioning and its impact on a country by country basis.
• What about Us? Debt and the Countries the G8 Left Behind (Christian Aid, 2005) -- Critiques the limited scope of the G8 deal, calls for a fairer and more transparent process for debt relief, and urges debtor governments to emphasise the illegitimate nature of many debts, be more assertive in negotiations with creditors, and reduce their reliance on loans

World Bank and IMF Conditionality

• Cut the Strings (JDC, with support from Action Aid, CAFOD, Christian Aid and WDM, 2006)
• Kicking the Habit: How the World Bank and IMF are still addicted to attaching economic policy conditions to aid (Oxfam, 2006) -- with a focus on the experience of Mali
• Tightening the Chains or Cutting the Strings (JDC with research sponsored by a broad coalition, 2006)

Debt and the MDGs

• To Pay or to Develop -- Debt Sustainability Handbook (Erlassjahr.de/Eurodad, 2006) -- argues for debt sustainability criteria to be based on capacity to meet the MDGs.
• Beyond HIPC: Debt Cancellation and the Millennium Development Goals (Oxfam, 2005) -- a post G8 analysis that calls for debt relief to be linked to capacity to meet MDGs
• In the Balance JDC, Action Aid and Christian Aid, 2005 -- why debts need to be cancelled so that countries can meet the MDGs.
• The Unbreakable Link (JDC and nef, 2002) -- an analysis as of 2002 of countries' progress through the HIPC process, together with an estimate of their likely progress on the MDGs.

Debt and Particular Regions/Countries

If not now, when? JDC and All Party Parliamentary Group on HIPCs, 2005 -- recommends debt relief as necessary for a strong, prospeous Africa

A Case for Debt Relief for Kenya (Justice and Peace Commission, St Paul's Church, Nairobi University, 2005) -- argues that Kenya's debt burden should be relieved as much of it is illegitimate, it is a major factor promoting dependence and impeding development, and most of the burden relates to interest not principal

Zambia after the HIPC "Surgery" and the Completion Point (Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection, 2006 ) -- A clear overview of the impact of the HIPC and MDRI on Zambia that also makes recommendations on the process for further debt cancellation and on the Zambian government's strategy for contracting new loans.

Comments from Antonio Gumende, Mozambique's High Commissioner to the UK (2005) -- brief statement of impact of debt relief on Mozambique

Governance

How to fit 27 elephants in a single chair (Eurodad, 2007) -- Suggests progressive positions European governments might take on reform at the World Bank and IMF.

Debt Sustainability, Transparency of Process and New Lending

• Debt Sustainability or Defensive Deterrence? (Eurodad, 2007) -- argues that the World Bank's plan to penalise countries who borrow on non-concessional terms from commercial banks or new sovereign lenders (ie China) places developing countries in a dilemma because the lack of sufficient concessional aid within the traditional system simultaneously requires them to seek new lenders
  
• Preventing New Cycles of Debt (CIDSE, 2007) -- argues that policy failures in the G7/G8 and IFI initiatives underlie the failure to find a holistic solution for debt and suggests processes that could help improve the situation and prevent future debt cycles.
• To Pay or to Develop -- Debt Sustainability Handbook (Erlassjahr.de/Eurodad, 2006) -- argues for debt sustainability criteria to be based on capacity to meet the MDGs.
• The New World Bank/IMF Debt Sustainability Framework: A Human Development Assessment (CIDSE, Center of Concern, 2006) -- comprehensive, often technical, assessment of the framework based on the experience of numerous countries, arguing on the basis of Catholic social teaching that a human development perspective is necessary
• World Bank and IMF Review of the Debt Sustainability Framework and the Implications of the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (Eurodad, 2006) and Still Missing the Point: Unpacking the New World Bank/IMF Debt Sustainability Initiative (Eurodad, 2005) -- Eurodad's critique of the framework and the internal analysis thereof, looks at the implications of the framework for countries' ability to develop. Pre-MDRI, but the analysis of the debt sustainability framework itself remains valid.
  
• To lend or to grant: Critique of the IMF/World Bank Approach to Debt Sustainability (CAFOD, 2004)

Repudiation and other options

The Repudiation Option: Southern Government Debt Strategies (Christian Aid, 2007 ) -- argues that Southern governments should refuse to pay their debts in order to free resources for pro-poor human development

Debt Campaigning

• From Jubilee 2000 to Make Poverty History -- Building a New Future for the World's Poor (Door newspaper, 2005)

A Timeline in Reports

Debt is unusual among the issues that we cover in that there has actually been a fair amount of change over the past decade. The section below, therefore, offers some "historical" background to the more recent papers above, showing "where we have come from" . . . and where the current plans and programmes reflect (or in the case of governance, conditionality, and transparency of process, have yet to reflect) the proposals put forward in the Jubilee campaigns.

2005

Do the Deal. The G7 Must Act Now to Cancel Poor Country Debts (Action Aid UK, CAFOD, Oxfam GB, Feb 2005) -- a paper submitted before the G7 finance ministers meeting, setting out the case for debt relief and making recommendations for how it should be accomplished.

2004

Fool's Gold: The Case for 100% Multilateral Debt Cancellation for the Poorest Countries (Action Aid UK, CAFOD, Oxfam GB, 2004) -- a good summary of the case for debt relief, looking in depth at five specific reasons for debt cancellation, exploring sources for financing debt relief, and calling for an end to harmful conditionalities.

2003

Did the G8 Drop the Debt? (Jubilee Research, CAFOD, JDC) -- an analysis of what had happened in the five years since the Birmingham chain, and what needed yet to be done

2002

A Joint Submission to the World Bank and IMF Review of HIPC and Debt Sustainability (CAFOD, Christian Aid, Oxfam GB, Eurodad, 2002) -- wide-ranging discussion of debt issues as they then stood

2001

From Debt to Poverty Eradication: What Role for Poverty Reduction Strategies? (CIDSE-Caritas, 2001) -- a lengthy (but with a good summary) paper analysing the strengths and weaknesses of the PRSP from the perspective of Catholic social teaching.

2000

Still Waiting: Time for a New Deal on Third World Debt (Christian Aid, 2000)

1999

Beyond Cologne, Towards Jubilee (CIDSE-Caritas, 1999) -- The Catholic agencies' clear, succinct (4 pg) response to the Cologne G8 initiatives.

Where Can I Find More Information about Debt?

Campaigning Groups

The Jubilee Debt Campaign website offers information about the latest issues and events, including a newslettercountry reports -- at present these cover Haiti, Indonesia, Kenya and Liberia. page, worship resources, and reports. JDC is also building a series of

Many Christian and secular agencies who were and are part of the Jubilee coalitions have their own websites with materials on debt. Some of the most well-resourced are:

• CAFOD
• CIDSE
• Oxfam

The Eurodad website offers brief overviews of key areas (the debt situation as a whole, multilateral debt, bilateral debt, illegitimate debt, debt sustainability etc) . . . but is unusually helpful in that at the end of the brief articles, you get a list of the most recent news items on that particular area, coupled with a list of the latest reports on general and specific topics. If you want to keep up to date on debt and aid, you can also subscribe on the website to Eurodad's e-newsletters, which provide up-to-date news and analysis on these issues. Eurodad also has a list of its members with links to their websites, so that you can find out more about what is happening in other countries.

Jubilee USA Network is a good source of up-to-date news on the latest developments in debt and debt campaigning. The network also has a wide variety of resources, and is particularly strong on resources for churches.

The website for Afrodad, the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development, offers many resources, including recent articles from various media about current debt issues and some publications on illegitimate debt in the DRC and Malawi. Please note, however, that many areas of the site are not accessible even to the registered user.

Jubilee South, a network of 85 anti-debt groups from over 40 countries in the Africa, Asia/Pacific, and Latin American regions, has a website which contains numerous resources from member groups on privatisation and conditionality, illegitimate debt and ecological debt, in which the South are the creditors. In addition, if you read Spanish and want to get a really good sense of where the Latin American campaigns are going, go to the Jubileo-Sur email archives.

Jubilee Zambia's website contains many country-specific resources showing the impact of debt in that country. If you are looking for up-to-date resources, however, they are not as helpful, as they are all pre-2006 and hence do not take into account the G8 debt relief programme.

The Bretton Woods Project, offers a critique of the International Financial Institutions and includes up-to-the-minute news and analysis of their actions.

Government and IFI Resources

The World Bank's Economic Policy and Debt page offers links to the large number of materials that document the Bank's involvement with debt issues. Resources range from an overview of debt relief in general, a fact sheet on the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative and the "HIPC at a Glance Guide" to full volumes on how recommendations are implemented and the implications for various countries.

The IMF's resources include a fact sheet on HIPCs which has links to publications, including "Can Debt Relief Boost Growth in Poor Countries" (while some would take issue with aspects of this paper, it points out quite clearly that debt relief can boost growth, and that debt servicing discourages public investment -- not surprising, but handy to have the confirmation from the IMF itself) and country documents for HIPC.

The UK Government's work on debt relief can be accessed on a very clear and full page on the Treasury website entitled Debt Relief for Poverty Reduction and through DFID.

Databases, Think Tanks and More . . . .

If you're looking for comprehensive coverage of a particular area, such as debt relief for a particular country, try ELDIS, the University of Sussex's magnificent database of reports from around the world on development issues. You can also sign up for ELDIS's "Aid and Debt Reporter," an email newsletter with summaries of reports in the area.

Choike, a "portal on Southern civil societies" has an "external debt" page with links to organisations, reports and resources. The focus of the coverage is on institutions themselves (IFIs, etc) and both Northern and Southern campaigns and coalitions.

Jubilee Research at nef has a very valuable archive, as well as good short articles and responses to current stories and issues.

Debt isn't one of the primary foci of the Overseas Development Institute's work, but their panel evaluating the HIPC initiative (July 2006) raises many key issues and has an interesting mix of panelists from the World Bank, Jubilee Debt Campaign, and the academy. Audio and powerpoints from the meeting are available on the website.

What is Fair Trade?

Fair Trade is an alternative to unfair systems of world trade -- a way of seeking justice for producers through right trading relationships.

One of the principles of Fair Trade is that producers are paid a fair price -- which covers sustainable production and the costs of living -- for their goods. But while that's the best known aspect of Fair Trade for consumers, it's only a small part of the whole.

A working definition agreed in 2001 by four of the largest Fair Trade networks reads:

What does this mean in practice? In their book, "Fair Trade," Dr. Alex Nicholls and Charlotte Opal list generally accepted factors in a Fair Trade relationship as including:

In a genuine Fair Trade relationship all of these factors work together for good.

• The provision of credit in advance means that producers don't start their work already in debt and facing crippling repayments.
  
• Over a period of time -- the result of the long-term partnerships -- freedom from debt, the provision of a fair price and the additional premium for development remove the primary impetus for child labour (extreme poverty within families), give producers the capital to undertake sustainable development practices and improve their products, help them to diversify their incomes, and give the means to improve the living conditions for the local area
• In addition, the improved nature of the products, the direct relationships Fair Trade encourages, the capacity-building it gives to producer organisations and the market information it offers enable producers to function better in the conventional global markets. This is very important, as few producer groups actually sell all of their goods on the Fair Trade market. With their increased awareness of how markets work, however, they can generally negotiate better contracts in the conventional markets as well -- further increasing their incomes.

So that's Fair Trade in general terms. To find out more about two specific groups of standards for Fair Trade relationships, go to the page called "How to identify fairly traded goods"

Oh, and by the way -- you may have wondered why this page refers to "Fair Trade" rather than "Fairtrade." That's because the general concept is covered by the two word term. The use of the term ‘Fairtrade' (one word) is reserved by the Fairtrade Foundation as a description of "products and transactions involving products that meet international Fairtrade standards, and of related activities such as the Fairtrade Towns campaign". . . . more about that in the page noted above.

1 Definition agreed by FLO, IFAT, NEWS and EFTA.
2 Alex Nicholls and Charlotte Opal, "Fair Trade: Market-Driven Ethical Consumption" (Sage Books, 2005) 

All photographs courtesy of the Fairtrade Foundation, www.fairtrade.org.uk.