Faith & the Common Good was back at the Parliament of the World’s Religion (POWR)!  I was honoured to moderate two incredible learning conversations at the 2021 Parliament, a virtual event that featured 500 learning sessions over October 16-18th. 

Decolonizing Eco-Investing

In a special "repeat performance" of their Laudato Si Movement Canada's Catholic Eco Investment Accelerator presentation, Stephen Nairne of Raven Indigenous Capital Partners and Mark Sevestre of the National Aboriginal Trust Officers Association guided POWR attendees in a discussion of how faith-based investors, utilizing the principles of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, can ensure that their investments are contributing to vibrant Indigenous economies. 

"The economic empowerment of Indigenous communities is vital to the restoration and guardianship of our living world,” Nairne highlighted. 

A small sample of the growing number of Indigenous resources to guide responsible investors.

International Climate Justice Collaboration

A Vancouver based oil company, ReconAfrica, has started exploratory drilling in the Kavango Region of Namibia.  Drilling that threatens the World Heritage Okavango Delta ecosystem and the rights of the San Indigenous people.  Using Covid as a pretext, the company moved forward with very little public consultation. Most of the country woke up to find that petroleum licenses for 8.75 million acres of land in the Okavango Delta region were a done deal.  Green Anglican’s Rev. Dr. Rachel Mash, KAIROS’s Beth Lorimer, and Grandmothers Advocacy Network’s Diane Scarletta led us through an inspiring journey around the role of the faith communities in mobilizing public support, both in Canada and Southern Africa, to oppose this deeply flawed venture.  As Rachel described, “When I realized that we were not alone, that our faith partners across Canada wanted to help us to raise public awareness and hold this Canadian company accountable, I burst into tears of joy.” 

Anglican bishops in Canada and Southern Africa unite to oppose Kavango Basin fossil fuel extraction.

Speakers at last week’s conference discussed efforts being made to make mass damage to nature--ecocide--an international crime against humanity, prosecutable by the U.N.’s International Court of Justice.