Doreen Ajiambo

As illegal mining spreads through abandoned shafts in South Africa, Catholic religious women risk their lives to rescue girls coerced into sex and early marriages in communities the state struggles to protect.

As religious sisters and others respond on the front lines, communities across Africa bear the cost of global delays on climate action.

A growing network of Catholic sisters in Samburu is introducing an alternative initiation ceremony that is slowly reducing female genital cutting in one of the country's most resistant regions.

Talitha Kum Africa has adopted a three-year plan to confront trafficking's fast-evolving forms across the continent. It's a mission already embodied in Sr. Redemptor Ikonga's work with vulnerable children in Kenya.

As world leaders gather in Belém, Brazil, for the COP30 climate summit, faith leaders call out the "tragic, sinful gap between the call to care for creation and the failure of governments to act."

With COP30 underway in Brazil, faith leaders say the time for polite appeals is over. From Turkana's dry fields to the Amazon's burning forests, the church is turning to action and demanding world leaders keep their promises.

As leaders prepare to meet in Belém, Brazil, women living the climate emergency in Kenya and across Africa are demanding global action, gender justice and investment in local adaptation.

As Lake Victoria's rising waters displace families, Catholic leaders and villagers plant bamboo to restore their land and send a message to world leaders meeting in Brazil. 

"It's a sacrifice — just like the one Jesus made for us," said Sr. Stella Aketch "The Ugandan martyrs also gave their lives for their faith. Walking like this is my way of honoring their courage."

Pope Francis brought a powerful spotlight to the issue. Sisters hope the new pope will continue that momentum.

Religious sisters said that Francis consistently demonstrated a profound concern for the poor in Africa, reflecting his broader commitment to the marginalized worldwide. 

"Women and children are suffering the most from the war," says a nun based in Goma, Congo. "They are subjected to rape, and their dignity is being eroded, with little they can do because the perpetrators are armed."

Catholic sisters, a priest and a bishop spoke to GSR about how they help migrants in South Africa rebuild their lives and integrate into a society that has been hostile to foreigners.

"The climate crisis is not gender-neutral. Women and girls disproportionately bear the brunt of climate change, yet their voices remain largely underrepresented in climate decision-making," said Jemimah Njuki, U.N. Women's chief of women's economic empowerment.

Debate about how much money countries should direct toward addressing climate change has overlooked the massive spending on weapons and wars, say faith activists at  the U.N. climate conference in Azerbaijan. 

As the U.N. climate change conference reached the halfway point, faith groups appealed for countries to set an ambitious new target to finance the transition to clean energy and adaptation measures for a rapidly warming world.

Donald Trump's looming return has cast a shadow over COP29, say Catholic officials here who worry Trump will not only halt U.S. progress in reducing heat-trapping emissions but also undermine international efforts.

Zambia and other African nations are grappling with an extreme drought, worsened by the effects of climate change. One possible funding source Zambia has waited to access is the loss and damage fund, established in 2022 under the United Nations. 

With financing the focus at the U.N. climate conference, the Vatican secretary of state delivered to world leaders Pope Francis' appeal that wealthy nations use the 2025 Jubilee to forgive debts "as a matter of justice."

Catholic and faith representatives will join global leaders and national delegates Nov. 11-22 in Baku, Azerbaijan, host to the United Nations climate change conference, COP29.