Water crises and injustice is a global phenomenon. It is one of the greatest challenges that people should be concerned about in the 21st century. Around the world, there is lack of clean water for humans and other living things. Those who suffer most are the underprivileged people in the society. Animals and plants are also exposed to difficult situations due to water pollution, water shortage and a lot of species are dying off. Eventually the entire natural community will be destroyed if this pattern continues.
In South Korea, water pollution is serious due to the Four Major River Project that abuse water for economic profit by raising the value of the river and making it a tourist attraction. This project was intended to save the ecological environment and tourist industry as the green growth of Korea, but in reality the ecosystem was destroyed by human hands. These projects are also the cause of the water shortage for underprivileged people. The water crisis is not just a crisis of human life and survival. It also touches faith and religion because it is a fundamental crisis of the order of God's creation.
In response to these situational crises, various advocates of global theology have engaged in a wide range of debates on environmental issues. The paradigmatic contributions of Northcott, McFague, Moltman and others have begun to articulate a theological response to the ecological crisis, with which we are enmeshed. In order to preserve and save the earth, we must realize that it is important to recognize the reality of the environmental crisis and the future prospects of climate change. The World Council of Churches (WCC) has published documents stating that poverty, wealth and ecology are inter-related. This is a shift from focusing solely on a single environmental issue, in a reductionist manner. Rather, WCC documents on the environment lead to an understanding of the connectional and intersectional nature of a social justice ethic which engages seriously issues of poverty, wealth, and ecology. It seeks a theology that is liberative for the fullness of the oikumene.
This paper recognizes the seriousness of water pollution caused by economic development and the political abuse of water resources in South Korea as an instance of the larger ecological crisis in its connection with justice concerns. It focuses on the theological and ethical critique of ecological crisis from leading eco-theologians in developing a response. It also gives an ecumenical account of aspects of sustainable development and environmental conservation found in documents of the WCC. From a varied methodology of looking critically at the environmental issues and ecumenical theology, I will try to find ways to put into practice an ecological vision for water justice in Korean churches and the world.
