Significant increase

adminonJanuary 18, 2022January 27, 2022Leave a Comment

In Bavaria in 2010, around 80.000 Christians left the two large churches. The Protestant Church lost about 20.000, the Catholic church slightly more than 60.000 members.

While the number of people leaving the regional church remained at the same level as in previous years, it rose by an average of 50 percent in the seven Catholic dioceses. The diocese of Augsburg was the proportional leader with an increase of almost 73 percent, while the archdiocese of Munich-Freising was at the bottom with just under 30 percent.

As the seven dioceses unanimously reported, the peak of the withdrawal movement fell on the spring of 2010. At the time, the abuse scandal and the affair surrounding Augsburg Bishop Walter Mixa caused persistent negative headlines about the Catholic Church. In the second half of the year, the number of people leaving the church returned to pre-crisis levels, the dioceses said.

For the first time since 1949, the proportion of Catholics who turned their backs on their church was 0.9 percent of all members, higher than that in the Evangelical Lutheran Church. For her, the attrition was 0.77 percent. If this trend is confirmed at the federal level, where not all the data is yet available, this would correspond to around 220.000 Catholic and 185.000 Protestant church departures.

At the same time, the national church registered a significant increase in admissions. Just under 5.500 people became Protestants in the Free State in 2010, after about 3.500 in the previous year. According to the spokesman of the regional church office, the origin of this increase has yet to be evaluated.

According to this balance sheet, the Catholic Church suffered serious membership losses in 2010. In retrospect, however, the decline was not quite as severe as feared seven months ago. At that time, social scientists had predicted a double or even triple exit number compared to 2009.

Elephant, rhino and co. As unnoticed victims of the virus

Two rhinos in Kruger National Park © Toye (shutterstock)

In South Africa, the Corona pandemic threatens to set a new unemployment record. While the government tries to avert a humanitarian catastrophe, one virus victim goes largely unnoticed: the country’s wildlife.

Soldiers patrol the streets. Police stop motorists to inquire about their destination. A military helicopter rattles over the suburbs at least once a day. South Africa is in week three of a strict curfew. South Africans are only allowed outdoors to shop or see a doctor. Positive side effect: a drop in crime rates, including cases of poaching. In the long run, however, Covid-19 could have the opposite effect, environmental experts warn.

Tourist destinations also remain closed

"We are currently benefiting from these measures," the South African Times newspaper quoted Johan Jooste as saying. The retired major general of the South African Defence Force is now responsible for security in national parks. Like restaurants, cinemas and many stores in the Cape, these popular tourist destinations will remain closed for the time being. Jooste hopes that the exit restriction will not only flatten the curve of corona infections, but also that of illegally killed elephants, rhinos and other endangered species.

Impoverished fishing communities have lost livelihoods

According to Moenieba Isaacs, a lecturer at the University of Western Cape, the trend is also reflected in the seafood industry: "With all the major celebrations in China cancelled, such as Chinese New Year or weddings, the demand for exotic seafood is currently going to zero."As a result, however, not only has the number of illegally caught lobsters and snails declined, they say. The many impoverished fishing communities around Cape Town would also have lost their livelihoods as a result of the export ban.

In the rest of the country, isolation is also a concern. "During the curfew, government and private safari lodges will remain closed in addition to the conservation areas," said Jo Shaw, wildlife expert at WWF South Africa. The financial impact on businesses and employees of national parks, safari companies and private reserves is "significant," he said.

Poaching becomes a source of income

The village of Numbi lies on the border of the world-famous Kruger National Park. Decaying houses line the main street. Except for a general store and a barbershop in a shipping container, economic life here is at a standstill even outside times of crisis. There are no jobs, no houses and no roads in the rural province of Mpumalanga. In many villages around the national parks, poaching has become a lucrative source of income. For every rhino slaughtered, aid workers receive up to 4.300 euros.

In 2019, poachers killed nearly 600 rhinos in South Africa. That’s a success for the government in Pretoria – because just five years ago, the number was more than twice as high. Covid 19 threatens to reverse this trend soon. "Thousands of people living around protected areas have lost their livelihoods overnight from tourism, hunting and other wildlife activities," says Anette Hubschle, a social scientist and expert on illegal markets at the University of Cape Town. Some safari lodge operators are reportedly bracing for a full year without international visitors.

Covid-19 could fuel illegal animal hunting

Meanwhile, economists paint a horror scenario that the virus could swell South Africa’s unemployment rate from the current 29 percent to 50 percent. Hubschle expects economic damage from Covid-19 to fuel illegal animal hunting. Above all, "bushmeat" is in the crosshairs of the poachers, i.e. mammals and reptiles that are shot in the savannah for human consumption. "Now more than ever, we need to explore ways in which we can support village communities around protected areas," Hubschle said.

A similar call comes from WWF’s Jo Shaw. She, too, fears that national park residents will increasingly turn to environmental resources in the face of a lack of tourists. "That’s why it’s important to find alternative sources of income, both for the parks and for the people who make their living from them."

A girl in the refugee camp near Moria on Lesbos © Angelos Tzortzinis

Caritas International worries about the helpers on Lesbos who take care of the refugees in the camps around Moria. Too many people in too small a space. If the coronavirus spreads to the camps, this would have fatal consequences for the people.

Interviewer: What would it mean if the coronavirus spread to the refugee camp?

Gernot Kraub (Greece desk officer at Caritas International): There are a lot of people there in a very small space, in the most difficult hygienic situations and conditions. It would indeed be fatal if the virus were to spread to the camps, because it is simply not possible to make a separation there. Here in Germany, you can see the precautions at the workplace or in restaurants, where distance is maintained everywhere. Such separation is not at all conceivable in such a situation as prevails there. This is a considerable risk if the corona virus were to spread to the camps.

Interviewer: The Moria camp on Lesbos is actually designed for just under 3,000 people.000 people laid out. More than 19.000 people living there. You can hardly imagine that. What is the current situation??

Kraub: The whole thing is really an unspeakable situation, as it has been going on for many months, that’s actually nothing new. It has now come to a head again, because even more have arrived in the past few weeks.

You have to imagine that there is a camp where there are containers, where there are also paved roads and also electricity and water are available. But around the olive grove, which is a hilly area, there are wild settlements and shelters. Tents, where there is just no water supply and disposal, no electricity and no security. It’s kind of a breeding ground for such a virus situation and such a threat as we have now. That would be very difficult indeed.

Interviewer: The refugee drama has disappeared from the headlines because of the coronavirus pandemic. What does that mean for the people who are stuck there and the helpers??

Kraub: This is actually a real drama, because the whole situation on the Aegean islands is nothing new and it is in the media every now and then. But the burden is considerable, also for the host communities. Moria is a very small village. You have to imagine that a settlement next door that is x times bigger than this one has sprung up wildly. More and more people are coming there. That you now disappear from the media again and possibly also the proposed solutions do not take place, that would really be a fatal situation and a fatal signal for the Greeks on the islands, but also for our partners, Caritas Greece, which carries out the projects for us on the ground.

The question is: How can we secure long-term care there?? In the end, it is also a question of money. Because if this problem no longer appears in the media, it will disappear from people’s consciousness, and then no donations will come in, on which we are urgently dependent, so that we can help the people there.

Interviewer: EU interior ministers are likely to discuss refugees on the islands at their meeting this Tuesday. At least that’s what Chancellor Merkel hinted at during Monday’s press conference. 1.500 unaccompanied minors are supposed to be taken in. What does it actually bring? Does that bring relief for your work?

Kraub: This is first of all a political signal and a symbol. That is what this is good for. And it is also for the 1.500 evacuees certainly a significant improvement in their situation. If you look at the more than 19.000 people in Camp Moria 1.500 away, it is hardly noticeable on the ground and also hardly a relief for the situation of the helpers and the structures that are working there. Ten times overcrowding, you wouldn’t even evacuate ten percent of them. It is a symbol and it is good for the people. It should not be underestimated. But this would only relieve the situation on the ground if it were to have a long-term effect.

Interviewer: I ame that the protection of the helpers also plays a role and that you have discussed this. What does your help on the ground look like in concrete terms??

Kraub: In fact, that’s the biggest concern we have right now: The self-protection of our colleagues who work there every day in the camps. We are in the Kara Tepe camp, which is about five kilometers away from the Moria camp and also connected to it. That’s where especially the most vulnerable people like women with small children or psychologically stressed people come to. We also provide psychological help there. This is especially important now, because the situation is unclear, how it will continue.

Many have already been there for many months, and new ones are arriving. The measures we are taking at the moment are to help them, but also – especially in this situation – to give them hygiene articles, blankets and a sleeping bag. In addition, we see that the self-protection of our colleagues there is maintained and that special attention is paid to it. Because if they get sick, nobody has won anything.

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