AFRICA’S ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATES TO GATHER IN LUWEERO FOR POPE FRANCIS’ LAUDATO ‘SI’ VISION

DAILY MONITOR

Luweero District will host the Pope Francis 10th Anniversary Integral Ecology Africa Conference, aimed at celebrating and deliberating on the late Pope’s vision for Mother Earth and environmental stewardship as highlighted in his 2015 second encyclical letter, Laudato ‘Si’.

The Laudato ‘Si’ 10th Africa Conference 2025, scheduled to take place at Bethany Land Institute, Nandere Parish in Kasana-Luweero Diocese, will run from July 23 to 25, under the theme: 10 Years After Laudato ‘Si’.

According to the organizing committee, more than 200 delegates, including academia, researchers, policymakers, environmental and climate activists, and religious leaders, will meet to evaluate how far the world has moved in responding to Pope Francis’ call to restore the depleted environment.

Rev Fr Emmanuel Katongole, President of Bethany Land Institute (BLI) told Monitor on April 26, the ongoing preparations for the July conference.

“The conference is a follow-up of the 10-year journey in the implementation of Pope Francis’ encyclical letter Laudato ‘Si’ in making the world a safer place. The delegates will brainstorm on the achievements and challenges as the world marks 10 years since Pope Francis’ second encyclical letter,” he said.

“We mourn the loss of Pope Francis who greatly inspired our journey to redeem the depleted vegetation. Pope Francis’ open encyclical letter urged the world to respond to the challenges of global warming, depleted wetlands, forests, and the natural earth cover, all largely due to human activity. We are happy that Luweero District, where integral ecology activities are ongoing, will host this international conference,” Rev Fr Katongole added.

In his 2015 second encyclical letter, Pope Francis proposed an integral ecology framework, combining political, economic, scientific, technological, educational, cultural, and spiritual dimensions to effectively respond to the cry of the earth and the poor.

He stressed that the urgent challenge to protect our common home includes bringing the whole human family together to seek sustainable and integral development.

In October 2023, Pope Francis wrote a follow-up document on the climate crisis, Laudate Deum, in which he lamented the slow progress since the publication of Laudato ‘Si’. With a tone of urgency, he warned that the situation is now more critical.

“The world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point,” a section of Laudate Deum reads.

Rev Fr Joseph Kakooza, Administrator at Bethany Land Institute, also confirmed preparations for the 10th Anniversary celebrations of Pope Francis’ Laudato ‘Si’ conference.

“We are currently implementing several integral ecology projects aligned with Pope Francis’ call to replenish the environment and adapt to sustainable practices. Lazarus Forest, Nandere Hill, and Kasana-Luweero Diocese are honored to host this conference,” Rev Fr Kakooza said on April 25.

According to organizers, the conference will cover topics related to integral ecology, environmental justice and advocacy, care for the common home, integral human development, and interdisciplinary approaches to ecology. It will also take stock of the 10-year journey implementing Laudato ‘Si’ and launch a Laudato ‘Si’ Africa Action Network through a web-based platform to further integral ecology work.

What is Integral Ecology?

Integral ecology is a holistic approach that targets the interconnectedness between human and natural systems, balancing human needs with environmental stewardship and social justice.

It promotes sustainable development initiatives such as balancing economic growth with environmental protection, climate change mitigation, and social justice.

Farmers are encouraged to practice regenerative farming, where fruit trees and other species are integrated into gardens to encourage natural nitrogen fixing of soils without relying on synthetic fertilizers.

Uganda continues to grapple with environmental degradation. It loses approximately 2.5 percent of its wetlands annually. Between 1994 and 2015, the country’s wetland coverage declined by 6,146.6 square kilometers. The primary drivers of this decline are human activities such as farming, charcoal burning, and livestock grazing.

Additionally, Uganda registered an estimated forest cover loss of 3 million hectares between 1990 and 2018, representing about 24 percent of the country’s land surface, according to Ministry of Water and Environment statistics. The estimated annual forest loss stands at approximately 200,000 hectares.