By: Stella Zulu Kaferapanjira
As Malawi is ranked third among most vulnerable countries to climate change effects due to overpopulation, dependency on rain fed agriculture, high poverty levels, poor governance and substandard infrastructure among others, the Catholic Development Commission (CADECOM) has engaged faith leaders from various religions on their role to help mitigate the challenge in the country.
The training that was attended by faith leaders from Evangelical Association of Malawi, Muslim Association of Malawi (MAM), Quadria Muslim Association of Malawi (QMAM) and Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) was meant to find consolidated ways through which faith leaders can together help alleviate effects of climate change in the country.
Speaking during the training, CADECOM Livelihood programs coordinator, Miss Mercy Chirambo said faith leaders have easy access to the communities as Malawians are very sentimental to their religious believes. Therefore, they should utilize their platforms and Sacred Scriptures that talk about creation to give people the responsibility of environmental management.
‘When it comes to climate change, we always look at the responsibility of Government and Civil Society organizations which are not enough to carter for all communities. We want faith leaders to be conversant with the subject of climate change, be in the forefront conveying and teaching about climate change to their congregants. They are already doing some small interventions, but what is lacking is interfaith dialogue and interventions where different faith groups collaborate and do interventions with magnitude impact in the country,” said Miss Chirambo.
Climate change has led to various hazardous effects like erratic rainfall, floods, dry spells, strong winds, heat waves and droughts among others, which frequently affect poor people. In making communities climate change resilient and advocate for climate change justice, CADECOM with funding from Scottish government through SCIAF and Trocaire is implementing Climate Challenge Program Malawi, which is promoting Village Savings and Loan groups, livestock farming, tree planting and mixed cropping and others in rural Communities of Zomba, Machinga, Chikwawa and Balaka so that communities should be able to resist climate change shocks.
The faith leaders agreed to utilize their religious structures to propagate issues of climate change in order to awaken ethical and moral responsibility in congregates. They further agreed to continue working together to fulfill the God given responsibility of taking care of the environment.