Anglican Communion plans Congress to promote its concern for global issues and to consolidate its resources to help save the people and the planet

18-22 August 2002

In order that a clear, Anglican voice can be heard at the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg 2002, representatives of the Anglican Communion plan to convene in South Africa in the week prior to the Summit. This will be a unique event, supported by the Archbishop of Canterbury, to consider the Communion's responsibilities to the world's population and the planet, and to produce a Statement to be presented to the Summit by the Communion's UN Observer.

The Anglican Communion is remarkable - a body of 70 million people in 165 countries, both rich and poor, from north, south, east and west. Those who will come to represent it in South Africa will come as people of faith and hope, to share their experiences of earth stewardship in different regions of the Church, and to organise themselves effectively across the Anglican Communion. They will gather not only as Anglicans, but also as citizens of a global community, needing to learn to live as one, not as many competing communities and individuals.

Unjust, unsustainable strategies for economic development are the root cause of our planetary environmental crisis. The impoverishment of the earth and the impoverishment of people are not two separate tragedies of modern life, but one, which must be overcome with spiritual vision and practical strategies for a sustainable future based on human responsibilities and rights. The vision, expressed in the 1998 Lambeth Conference resolutions, is that the redemptive purpose of God in Jesus Christ extends to the whole Creation. The purpose of the proposed event is to make a collective response to the ongoing impoverishment of God's Creation, both people and ecosystems and to articulate a unified voice, which will be carried across the Communion and heard at the crucial United Nations' Summit.

The 1998 Lambeth Conference resolved to address environmental concerns. The Congress in South Africa will review work undertaken so far, and look forward to the Lambeth Conference of 2008 thus ensuring that the resolutions of 1998 will not have been in vain.

The Congress will be considering Economic and Human Justice, Health, Energy, Water, Food, Biodiversity, Habitats and Urbanisation. In addition, time will be spent reviewing a variety of projects now underway throughout the Communion, launching the Communion's world-wide environmental network and looking at local environmental initiatives in the area around Hartebeespoort where the event will be held.

For further information:

Revd Canon Jeff Golliher: +1 212 316 7573 or +1 212 716 6263
David Shreeve: +44 20 7591 3111 mobile +44 7831 387745
Claire Foster: +44 20 7898 1523 mobile +44 7973 842837