At a meeting of Pacific General Secretaries, Wilson Gina from the United Church of Solomon Islands highlighted his nation’s vulnerability in a global economy. He described the impact of widespread timber felling by Malaysian companies and the meagre compensation they paid local people He portrayed how powerless they felt to withstand Taiwanese businesses dumping toxic waste with the consequential desecration of valuable land needed for food. To withstand the pressures, Wilson said that solidarity among Pacific churches, including New Zealand, was crucial.
Climate change and rising sea levels evoke similar feelings of betrayal and powerlessness. No Pacific nation produces emissions comparable to industrialised nations, yet the Pacific bears more than its share of the consequences.
Over the past year, a number of countries have experienced severe flooding, following a combination of tropical rain depressions, king tides and storm surges. Rising water tables have led to salt water seeping from the middle of small islands. Crops suffer the consequences of salination.
In some places, it is raining less and islands are experiencing droughts. In neighbouring seas, fish resources are depleted. Coastal barriers are washing away. People have been displaced from the Carteret Islands in Papua New Guinea and there are expectations that much of Tuvalu, Kiribati and Tokelau will be uninhabitable within a generation.
Governments are reluctant to speak about these matters. They do not wish to acknowledge their nations may cease to exist because it might provoke an apocalyptic evacuation. Through the Pacific Conference of Churches, churches are facing these issues and planning ways to engage their governments.
It is time for the Pacific Islands Forum, including Australia and New Zealand, to develop a realistic and clear plan.
A second major Pacific issue is trade justice. Australia and New Zealand are about to begin a further round of trade negotiations with Pacific nations. The aim is an enhanced closer economic relationship, popularly called Pacer-plus. New Zealand and Australia are promoting the value of removing barriers and reducing tariffs. They want to persuade Pacific countries to privatize services or run them as state owned enterprises. They aim to shrink the public service. The belief is that Pacific nations need to go through the same transition New Zealand and Australia experienced in the 1980s.
In preparation for those negotiations, both larger countries are investing resources in persuading Pacific officials and governments. They are bringing officials to training sessions in Australia.
The New Zealand government has arranged for a free trade evangelist to visit Pacific nations.
Pacific Churches are concerned about the approach of the New Zealand and Australian governments. The adoption of an ideology that commodifies services and people has potential to undermine the Gospel understanding of humankind and contribute significantly to the secularising of Pacific culture. Churches support economic development, but it needs to have its place within the wider Pacific Christian cultural context, and not undermine it. The Church needs to be active in promoting a Gospel perspective on trade in the Pacific, working with academics, unions and other civil society groups.
The impact of urbanisation is seen in nearly every Pacific nation. It is evident in the settlements of Port Moresby and in Port Vila. This has fed youth unemployment, violence and alienation.
That trend was most graphically expressed in September 2006, when the centre of Tonga’s capital, Nukualofa, was destroyed by fire following riots. Secular nations like Australia and New Zealand find it difficult to comprehend the Christian influence in the Pacific. They often fail to realise how much they need to work with churches.
In most parts of the Pacific, the Church remains the most influential non-governmental body and the most effective infrastructure for education, community building and service delivery.
New Zealand Churches need to help their government learn how to work with Pacific churches. The Government needs to listen to them and support them as the most significant builders of community.
Pacific Churches face some of the most complex issues any Church can face. Consider, for example, the Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma. It is the largest Church in Fiji and very influential in local communities.
It was the only major Fijian Church that spoke out in strong opposition to the coup. It also declined to participate in the consultations towards a new people’s charter for a fresh constitution.
The Methodist Church is asking: How should we deal with a Government that took power by coup? How can we help contribute to a more positive future for Fiji? Do we have a role in the political system or will that compromise our identity?
The Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand has a unique opportunity because of its Pacific connections. Many Pacific Church leaders trained in Dunedin. Pacific communities are a major part of the New Zealand Church.
If the Church is to make the most of that opportunity, ongoing engagement with Pacific Church leaders is essential.
Pacific Churches are our nearest neighbours, with whom we need to stand when the going gets tough.
The Rev Dr Kerry Enright is the National Director of UnitingWorld, an agency of the National Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia. He is the immediate past Assembly Executive Secretary of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand.