KEY ISSUES FACING THE CHURCH IN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
7.3 CARE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
7.3.2 Sustainable Development
The origin of the concept of sustainable development on the international level was emphasized by three powerful environmental organizations, namely the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (Elliott 1994:11).
In 1980, they published the World Conservation Strategy (WCS). In this publication, the emphasis is on the interdependency of conservation and development (Earthscan 1991)
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According to Niirnberger (1999), for any sustainable development to take place there is a need to change the social system. How can the social system change9 It is through changing the mindset of society. He argues that 'neither the mindset of traditionalism nor modernity is able to support the combination of economic development, social equity and ecological sustamability' (Niirnberger 1999:379). The reason is that traditionalism binds people to think of the past and people cannot progress (thus oppression in Freire's terms), whereas modernity conditions people to competition, and they thus do not care much what happens to the environment. He proposes that there is a need for going beyond both the alternatives, because they are not supporting or providing a good approach to development that is sustainable.
Niirnberger seeks to find a type of development that humanizes and enables people to lead the type of lives that they wish for and deserve. He outlines the main characteristics of development, which changes the situation of the oppressed and the nobodies (1999:379-382).
A new mindset of people has to recognize all people as subjects and not objects, or as other people to be used as a means to attain their goals. This is in line with Kantian Ethics, whereby it is unethical to use other people as a means to attain one's goals.
Such a mindset includes a comprehensive picture of reality (thus seeing reality in terms of physical, social, space, time and power discrepancy), perceiving humanity where human material needs are seen in the context of total human needs, and a vision of comprehensive well-being.
People must overcome fatalism (thus religious, moral, ecological, economical and metaphysical), learn to combine freedom with responsibility (so as to unleash and empower the initiative of the individual, the group and the community) and humanity must develop new criteria, where right of existence is bestowed and authorities allocated. Freire (1993:158- 159) affirms this new type of development that is sustainable by saying that the development leaders must work towards the conscientization of the common people. Conscientization is a very important term insofar as liberating systems are concerned.
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Conscientization means breaking through prevailing mythologies to reach new levels of awareness in particular, awareness of oppression, being an "object" in a world where only "subjects" have power. The process of Conscientization involves identifying contradictions in experience through dialogue and becoming a "subject"
with other oppressed subjects-that is, becoming part of the process of changing the world (Freire 1993:158).
Real development, which is sustainable, will take place once the common people own the development projects. The leaders and experts in environmental concerns should empower the common people so that they can know what it means to own the development projects
Lastly, peoples' motives must be changed from concern only for survival and prosperity, to a concern for justice for all groups and more especially concern for the oppressed, weak and vulnerable and for the environment, where all resources are found. Niirnberger (1999:383,384) believes that if people's mindsets are changed they should be given a new economic agenda for development, which benefits everyone as a subject. However, he argues that we should always be protecting and enhancing the natural habitat on which life depends, securing the material prerequisites for the life and health of human beings, making sure that the materials generated by humanity are equitably distributed to care for those who are unable to make a contribution and should be finding ways of balancing our need satisfaction.
Once the above has taken place, "Our Common Future", which is the famous term coined by the Brundtland Commission, will be bright.
This Commission defined 'sustainable development' as "development that meets the needs of the present generation without precluding the possibility of the future generations meeting their own needs" (WCED, 1987:43). Sustainable development, in the proceedings of the Brundtland Report, made it very clear that the link between environmental usage and patterns of economic development must be symbiotic and not parasitic. God in Genesis 1 and 2 gave human beings a mission to be stewards of what he had created. This is why the church should involve itself actively in programmes that make people wake up and protect God's creation that is entrusted to humankind.
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The relationship between the environment and development is a key element in the vision and work of WIDA. For example, WIDA made a connection between deforestation and lack of water and thus started to plant trees around WIDA offices. WIDA then started to encourage people to plant trees in their communities. Trees also help satisfy the growing need for firewood for domestic purposes. WIDA has, and still is, restoring a sense of belonging to a community. They are taking decisions to ensure survival by giving the people access to natural resources. In Gangamaguda village, within the area covered by WIDA, people have learnt to use compost and animal manure because chemical fertilizer has been harming the soil.
In WIDA, medicine people are helped to establish their herbal gardens so that they do not destroy the forests. WIDA helps these medicine people to establish these gardens and to fence them. Communities within WIDA organized themselves to oppose the government decision to allow private companies to fell trees around their villages for industrial purposes.
Villagers organize themselves and choose certain people to patrol the forests so that no intruders come and cut trees. The villagers supply people on duty with food. In most of the villages, we saw many planted trees. While the CMDP focuses on the environment by encouraging people to use crop rotation and compost and manure for sustainable harvests and encourages the planting of trees and shrubs to counter the high carbon dioxide produced by factories in the environment, it is not as high a priority. The connections between poverty and the environment, around such issues as water, land and air, have yet to be taken very seriously by CMDP.