The following statement was adopted by the Central Committee of the South African Council of Churches at its meeting of 4 July 2002.

We call on the people and nations of the world to live in harmony with nature and each other, treating all as "our neighbour". Only as we live in harmony with nature, establishing justice and caring for its natural life supporting systems of air, water, soil, shall we humans live in harmony with ourselves.

Just as we in South Africa had to abolish the unjust structures of apartheid in order to establish justice, so too we now need to establish just economic structures in the world to overcome the impoverishment and enslavement of the majority of humanity.

We therefore call for the establishment of just economic structures, fair trade and investment and the cancellation of odious debts. We call on the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development to seek to overcome not only the poverty of the world by establishing just economic structures but also to protect prevent the economic exploitation of people all the destruction of the natural environment.

We make this call because:

1. It is immoral that the resources of the world are controlled for the benefit of the wealthy minority.
2. It is immoral that some -- people and nations -- should have more wealth than they need while others starve.
3. It is immoral that "developing" countries are subjected to the regulations of "free trade" while the countries of North America and Europe protect and heavily subsidize their agricultural industry.
4. It is immoral that the direction of human activity is led by economic self-interest. Economic interests cannot override ethical and environmental rules. Economic decisions must be subservient to moral and ethical considerations. Like other resources, money is a tool to be used for good or bad. It is God's direction that we must follow and turn from allowing money to be a god.
5. It is immoral that with the demands of globalisation, environmental standards are lowered.
6. It is immoral spending over US$600 billion on weapons of war annually. This money would solve the development problems of the world and create far more employment than the armaments industry.
7. It is immoral using violence to bring about peace solutions. In all areas of confrontation, negotiations should replace armed conflict.
8. It is immoral and evil to bring about the extinction of other species, brought into being by God.
9. It is immoral to destroy the habitats of other species. Since the nations of the world have agreed that it is right to intervene in cases of genocide, ethnic cleansing and terrorism, so too the nations of the world now need to intervene and -- where necessary -- provide financial subsidy to ensure the survival of threatened habitats of other species.