NewzNAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 26 — Faith and indigenous leaders have pledged to mobilize their communities to tackle climate change and hold authorities accountable for ensuring climate financing reaches vulnerable populations. The leaders, meeting in Nairobi for an interfaith dialogue organised by the Embassy of Israel in Kenya and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), said religious institutions must translate their influence into practical environmental action, including tree planting, water conservation, climate-smart farming and ecosystem restoration. Geoffrey Njuguna, a board member of the Inter-Religious Council of Kenya representing Deliverance Church-Lang’ata, said faith institutions would use their networks to promote environmental stewardship while demanding transparency in the allocation of climate funds.
“Faith leaders must hold every level of government and every partner to account so that climate finance reaches the communities who need it,” Njuguna said. He outlined four commitments by the Indigenous Council of Kenya: integrating environmental stewardship into religious teachings, adopting sustainable practices within faith institutions, mobilising congregations to protect natural resources and speaking out on climate financing and government accountability. Njuguna said religious institutions could use their land and facilities to plant indigenous trees, harvest rainwater, adopt green energy and manage waste responsibly.
He also pledged to take the forum’s outcomes through the council’s nine religious coordinating bodies and encourage member institutions to make practical commitments over the next 12 months. Israeli Ambassador to Kenya Gideon Behar urged faith leaders to use their moral authority to drive environmental action, warning that the climate crisis could not be left to policymakers and scientists alone. “We cannot leave the battle against climate change only in the hands of policymakers,” Behar said.
“We need your voices.” He challenged participants to identify partners from different religious communities and agree on immediate actions they could implement after the forum, including organising community clean-ups, planting trees and protecting local water resources. Behar said the Israeli Embassy was ready to support initiatives by sharing expertise in water management, agriculture, science, technology, sustainability and renewable energy. NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 26 — Faith and indigenous leaders have been challenged to translate climate change commitments into practical community action and hold governments accountable for ensuring climate financing reaches vulnerable populations.
Israeli Ambassador to Kenya Gideon Behar said religious leaders had a critical role in mobilizing communities against climate change, warning that the crisis could not be left to policymakers and scientists alone. “We must translate words, thoughts, prayers, decisions into real actions on the ground,” Behar said during an interfaith climate dialogue in Nairobi organised by the Embassy of Israel in Kenya and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS). He urged religious and indigenous leaders to form partnerships across faiths and identify immediate interventions, including tree planting, neighbourhood clean-ups and protection of local water resources.
“Every time you do something for the environment, you do something for the people and you do something for the creation,” he said, expressing hope that the forum would grow into an annual platform that delivers measurable results. The two-day dialogue brings together faith and indigenous leaders, government representatives, civil society organisations and environmental practitioners to explore how religious values and traditional ecological knowledge can support climate resilience. Geoffrey Njuguna, a board member of the Indigenous Council of Kenya and a leader in the Deliverance Church, said religious institutions should use their influence to promote environmental stewardship while demanding accountability from those responsible for climate policy and financing.
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