Bremen - The Protestant Church in Germany (EKD) is worried about God's creation. At its synod in the northern city of Bremen from Sunday to Wednesday, its most important meeting of the year, the main theme will be global warming and dwindling water resources.

The EKD, a federation of 23 regional churches - Lutheran, Reformed and United - is expected to urge political and business leaders to get serious about environmental protection before it is too late.

Also on the agenda will be structural reforms that the Church feels it must make as its funds and membership shrink.

Environmental protection is not a new issue for the Church: its officials have been warning for years that care must be taken with the Earth and the natural resources on which humans depend; and its parishes have launched a number environmental protection projects.

By focusing on climate change, the EKD is not simply jumping on the environmental bandwagon.

Its member churches, in their development work in the Third World, see that global warming is mainly affecting regions already shortchanged by globalization.

While industrialized countries are the chief cause of climate change, poor countries are bearing the brunt of the consequences.

This, in the churches' view, is solidifying inequalities that they have long fought.

German environmental organizations have welcomed the climate initiative by the EKD, despite its different approach to the problem.

"As a moral authority, the churches are an important player," noted Nicolai Schaaf, a member of Berlin-based Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU). "The churches matter precisely because climate change is important in development work."

Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) also sees the church as a moral authority, according to its spokesman Norbert Franck.

BUND has put together a study on globalization in collaboration with Bread for the World, a Berlin-based Protestant relief organization.

"The churches are an important player on this issue. They reach a lot of people," Franck said.

"The churches naturally play a significant role when it comes to bringing up ethical issues within society," remarked Frauke Distelrath, spokeswoman for the anti-globalization network Attac.

She said Attac welcomed the EKD's climate efforts, noting the cChurch reached social classes that Attac did not.

A spokesman for Greenpeace, which normally has little contact with the EKD, also lauded the EKD's initiative.

EKD spokesman Christof Vetter said the aim of the synod was not simply to raise a finger in warning, but also to find ways to help combat global warming within the church itself.

Having a large number of church and parish buildings, the church can set an example of climate-friendly heating, for example.

Protestant churches in Germany have shown no lack of imagination regarding environmental protection to date.

Several teamed up with German Catholics and fellow Protestants in Luxembourg to promote Lenten "car fasting," or less driving.

An initiative called "Parishes for Solar Energy" helped more than 700 Protestant parishes get solar installations.

And the Lutheran Church in Germany's Nordelbien region recently launched a project to construct energy-saving church buildings under the motto "the refuge of the devout will become green." (dpa)