12th Interecclesial Meeting of Brazilian Ecclesial Basic Communities

From July 21st to July 25th Brazil’s Ecclesial Basic Communities meet in Porto Velho around the theme of Ecology and Mission: “From the belly of the earth, the cry that comes from Amazonia”. This is a very important and well attended meeting in which the socio-environmental concerns of the Amazonia region as well as the indigenous viewpoints, theologies and cosmologies will receive full attention. The meeting is important not only because of the Amazone region itself, which is threatened by deforestation and inconsiderate use of its water resources, but also because of the threats to what its indigenous may contribute to the reflection on worldwide sustainable lifestyles in a period of growing global environmental concerns (as illustrated in an IRIN notification that the IPCC plans to prepare, by 2011, a special report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation). I will provide some more news on the meeting in Porto Velho over the coming days, as I also hope that participants will be aware of the contribution they can offer towards the preparation of the coming United Nations’ Climate Change Conference (COP15: COP stands for “Conference of the Parties”) in Copenhagen from December 7th to 18th, 2009.