COP29 - 16 November 2024
God the Sustainer - the gift of water

reflection 

Water is essential to life, and with 60-70% of our body mass comprising water, we each have an intimate relationship with it. A loss of water equivalent to 2% of our body weight will cause us to feel thirsty, at 4% our blood pressure drops and we may faint, at 7% there is organ damage and we may die (BBC Future). We can go without food for days, but not water.

And it was this need for water that took the Samaritan woman to Jacob’s well, where she met Jesus, had her life turned upside down and became immortalised in John’s gospel. She came looking for something that would preserve life and Jesus gave her something that would save life. The living water that Jesus offered wasn’t actually water, but it would quench her inner thirst for ever: he offered himself. 

Water imagery is a rich seam that runs through the whole Bible. It represents physical and spiritual cleansing, it nurtures life and brings forth fruit, it is used as a metaphor for the Holy Spirit, and when we read of God redeeming his people, it is often couched in terms of him bringing water to parched deserts. But the imagery has negative connotations as well: people are destroyed by water in floods.

Jesus’ contemporaries understood this imagery because their lives depended on the equilibrium of water: too little or too much of it would cause crops to fail and leave them without food. And sadly, because of climate change many, many more people in our world are experiencing the same.

90% of all natural disasters are water-related (Water Aid). Currently, countries in the Horn of Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia) are experiencing their worst drought for forty years, because five consecutive short and long rainy seasons between 2020 and 2023 have failed. The reason for the failure? Climate change is making rainfall patterns unpredictable. And the consequence of the failure? Poor harvests, loss of livestock, conflict, and (in 2023) over four million people in need of humanitarian aid (World Weather Attribution).

Approximately 3,500 miles to the east, Bangladesh is managing the effects of too much water, as it deals with extreme flooding, exacerbated by climate change, which is decimating communities. Reports at the beginning of September highlighted the scale of this disaster (reliefweb):

• At least 71 people dead;

• 500,000 people displaced in more than 3,400 displacement shelters;

• Overcrowded displacement shelters, putting women and children at risk;

• Damage to critical infrastructure (roads, electricity supplies, communications, sanitation systems);

• Hospitalisation of 5000 people in a 24 hour period with diarrhoea, skin infections and snake bites;

• Closure of 7000 schools, impacting 1.7 million children and young people.

This is huge, and the list could go on, and on. With time, the immediate risk will pass, but many will be left without a home, a livelihood and with diminished food supplies.

Flooding is also an issue affecting the 70 million people who live on small island developing states (SIDS) in e.g. the Caribbean and Pacific Oceans. It is predicted that by 2050 the areas flooded annually due to sea level rise, across all SIDS, could be three times the current extent (Nature Sustainability). In human terms, that’s many more homes and livelihoods lost and huge amounts of money that has to be spent on adapting to the changing circumstances.

And of course we have all seen headlines of the recent, horrific flooding in Valencia, Spain, very close to home.

Does any of this change our relationship to water? Does our use of it reflect how precious a resource it is?

prayer

Father, we praise you. You are the creator, and all you created is good. We thank you for water: that beautifully elegant molecule that keeps us, and all of creation alive. We thank you for the symbolism of water in your word and its associations with life and hope. We thank you for the fresh water from our taps that we take for granted each day.

We confess that we are both amazed and horrified by the photos we see: farms desiccated by drought; houses surrounded by flood water, of raging torrents tearing up everything in their paths and the destruction of coastal communities as the sea encroaches. We ask your forgiveness for the way we have contributed to this.

We thank you for the promises in your word; and we call upon your mercy as we pray for those impacted by climate change. We pray for areas that long for rain, for people forced to move in search of water for their crops and animals. And for those at risk of flooding we pray for your protection.

Amen

at cop29

Water will be a focus of COP29 on Tuesday 19 November 2024, and will include several key initiatives aimed at addressing the critical interplay between water security and climate change:

• COP29 Declaration on Water for Climate Action: This declaration calls upon stakeholders to take integrated approaches to combat the causes and impacts of climate change on water basins and water-related ecosystems. It emphasizes the integration of water-related mitigation and adaptation measures in national climate policies, including Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs).

• Baku Dialogue on Water for Climate Action: This initiative aims to create a consistent platform on water and its interplay with climate change, biodiversity, desertification, and pollution. It encourages establishing and reinforcing partnerships based on shared water basins to improve international collaboration on these ecosystems.

• Water for Climate Ambassador: The COP29 Presidency will establish the position of the Water for Climate Ambassador to advocate for integrated water and climate policy.

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