Sustainability: Learning for Empowerment
April 2012
Banner photo: Environmental education through art, Los Tuxtlas biosphere, Veracruz, Mexico. [© Cardiela Amézcua Luna]
"Seeds of Hope" Shown at COP17
SGI-SA General Director Loren Braithwaite-Kabosha (left) with faith leaders at the multifaith rally in Durban [Chanelle Rudder]
SGI-South Africa (SGI-SA) organized a showing of the "Seeds of Hope: Visions of sustainability, steps toward change" environmental exhibition in the city of Durban from November 26 to December 10. During this period, Durban hosted the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), with some 20,000 civil society activists and government negotiators from around the world descending on the city over the three weeks of the conference.
The exhibition, which was created by the SGI and the Earth Charter International, was held in the main hall of the Diakonia Centre, a faith-based NGO office and conference facility. The hall was the venue for many of the key COP meetings held at the center. Many of those who viewed the exhibition commented on its message--the power of each individual to effect positive change in the environment.
There were also daily screenings of the SGI-produced documentary film A Quiet Revolution, which features individuals who have contributed to solving local environmental problems and was enthusiastically received.
David Le Page, an SGI-SA member and representative of the South African Faith Communities' Environment Institute, one of the main organizing bodies for the faith-based initiatives at COP, gave a public lecture on Buddhism and economics at the Diakonia Centre. In the lecture, he highlighted the need for a change in prevailing values.
At the Diakonia Centre [SGI-SA]
On November 27, the day before COP was officially opened, a large public multifaith rally was held at Durban's King's Park Stadium. At the rally, faith leaders appealed to the COP negotiating parties to reach a just agreement that would safeguard the future of the Earth and its people. SGI-SA General Director Loren Braithwaite-Kabosha spoke on behalf of the broader Buddhist community.
During the rally, some 180 youth representatives from around Africa, who had traveled to Durban from Nairobi, Kenya, in the African Youth Climate Justice Caravan to raise awareness of climate change, handed a petition of 200,000 signatures to the COP17 president. The petition called on leaders to commit to tougher action against climate change. Susy Wandera, an SGI-Kenya youth member, was part of the organizing committee of the caravan.
Among those attending the rally were Christiana Figueres, chair of UNFCCC; Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, COP17 president; Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu; and Mary Robinson, former Irish president and climate change campaigner.
On that same weekend, SGI youth participated in a global Conference of Youth held at the University of Kwazulu-Natal. The youth conference, which for the past seven years has been held prior to the COP, sees young activists coming together to strategize and network as well as educate, inform and inspire one another. The SGI youth also displayed some of the "Seeds of Hope" panels at the youth conference. The strong and energetic youth presence at COP injected hope and urgency into the proceedings, underlying SGI President Daisaku Ikeda's conviction that it is the power and passion of youth that will shape the 21st century.
