Madagascar – Environmental Entrepreneurs in Madagascar
Jesuit Missions has been supporting the Arrupe Centre in Madagascar since January 2020 in their efforts to strengthen environmental education and raise awareness in the country. Madagascar is already struggling with the effects of climate change, notably with ongoing drought in the south which has left more than a million people with food insecurity. The country is also recovering from Cyclone Batsirai which killed at least 100 people and left more homeless. This is the second tropical storm to hit the island, which is roughly the size of Spain, in two weeks.
The Arrupe Centre works in 6 dioceses spread across the country to help people understand the risks posed by climate change by sharing knowledge and practical skills so that they can actively participate in the prevention and resolution of environmental degradation.
This is mainly done through training groups of young people to be environmental leaders through informal education in the form of conferences, national radio broadcasts and television series on environmental themes. To ensure that its message reaches those with power to change policies, the Centre also collaborates with Madagascar’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development and the United Nations Development Programme. The Jesuit director of the centre, Fr Cyprien, provides input on the religious aspect of environmental protection and the importance of caring for our Common Home as Pope Francis calls in Laudato Si’.
After participating in one of the youth trainings, scouts Jean and Onic were inspired to carry out a five-day training session in their diocese for 40 people on the topic of ‘Young Environmental Entrepreneurs’. Speaking about her experience of the Arrupe Centre’s training, Jean talked about the benefits:
“I obtained several advantages, such as discovering regions other than mine, reinforcing my knowledge on the encyclical Laudato Si’. Besides, I got more knowledge about the environment… It is the inspirations and the motivations that we got during these trainings that encouraged us to concretize our action plans.”
We are grateful to the Arrupe Centre for carrying out this important and urgent work, and to our generous donors who make it possible for us to support this project.
Source: Jesuit Missions
Related Posts:
Marking the 10th anniversary of Laudato si’, Pope Leo XIV sends a videomessage to the Network of Universities for the Care of Our Common Home, and encourages their synodal reflection ahead of COP30.
It is from Latin America and the Caribbean that we present and disseminate this recently published work, the fruit of a two-and-a-half year working group that brought together Universities linked to AUSJAL and Social Centers linked to RCS (Jesuit Social Centers Network), all participants in the Conference of Provinces of Latin America and the Caribbean (CPAL). The work, which involves ten countries and 15 organizations, looks at the relationship between the environment and corruption in our continent innovatively, analyzing our challenges in the light of Integral Ecology.
Fr Roberto Jaramillo SJ, Secretary for Social Justice and Ecology (SJES) of the Society of Jesus in Rome, was in Jakarta recently. His visit provided an opportunity for dialogue with about 40 staff members of Sahabat Insan, the Jesuit centre for migrant workers. Their conversations centred around Laudato sí’s recommendation, paragraph 63: exploring local cultural wealth to develop an ecology capable of addressing the damage done to the Earth.
The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty (FFNPT) is an initiative that strives for an international agreement to phase out fossil fuel while ensuring a just global transition for workers, communities, and countries.
We're sharing here the Report presented by the Environmental Sciences for Social Change (ESSC) led by our dear colleague Pedro Walpole, who has been the leader of Ecojesuit since 2017. We would especially like to thank Pedro and the ESSC Team for the enormous and extraordinary work done in the animation of the GIAN of Integral Ecology during the last seven years; the report is an impressive display of his creativity and, above all, of their passion for the sacred gift of Creation. As Pedro himself expresses in the presentation of the report, we pray that: “may these times and events that we have all shared be a source of great consolation, courage and hope; Jesus walks with us!” We count on your collaboration and participation in GIAN - Integral Ecology.
