An amazing end to a fascinating couple of days. The atmosphere in the room was uplifting and excited as first we listened to our Climate Champions address the faith leaders directly. Confident, smiling and dealing with topical aspects to the climate change issue such as misunderstanding and the Champions won over the faith leaders, who cheered and clapped as the young leaders of the future stated their intentions to save the world, and asked for guidance and support from the faith leaders of their communities.
This si one of the strengths of the ICC programme – giving the young people a voice, a place at the table – a chance to express their points of view and be listened to and taken seriously by some of the most respected members of the African community. In this case the young leaders did us proud and made their points very well.
We went on to the signing of the InterFaith Declaration itself. It was a very moving moment as the Archbishop of Nigeria, the Sheikh Gariballah of Sudan and others leaned down and put pen to paper on this Declaration, the first of its kind in Africa. Each of the faith leaders have also made a personal pledge, a statement of intent, a promise, to perform some kind of measurable action back in their own communities.
The texts of the Declaration and the personal Commitments will be made . available through this and other sites shortly. In the meantime, the faith leaders and the Climate Champions are all relaxing after a remarkable achievement – and everyone has grins stuck to their faces!!!
Tags: actions, africa, British Council, Climate, climate change, conference of youth, convention, dream, faith, hope, interfaith declaration, nigeria
