By Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice
The UN Climate Change Conference begins in Copenhagen, Denmark, tomorrow, Monday 7 December, and will run until 18 December.
Climate change has many dimensions, for example, it can exacerbate poverty and economic recovery. At the recent Commonwealth People’s Forum (CHOGM), the Assembly on the Environment and Climate Change listed a number of areas that leaders should address. These were included in the final communiqué that was presented to Commonwealth leaders for attention e.g. civil society called on Commonwealth Member States to:
– “ agree a comprehensive deal in Copenhagen to limit global greenhouse gas emissions so that global temperature increase by a maximum of 2 degrees C, based on legally binding cuts in emissions in industrialised nations and a commitment to low-carbon development in developing countries, recognising that Small Island Developing States call for a maximum of 1.5 degrees Celsius;
-ensure that a global climate deal implements a ‘just transition’, providing adequate finance and technology transfer for developing countries especially the most vulnerable for mitigation and adaptation efforts;
– provide financial incentives for socially responsible and green investment, low carbon development strategies, the integration of environmental costs into prices, and by providing decent work and social protection, including active development of ‘green skills’;
– recognise that impacts of climate change are being felt now, particularly on low lying coasts and encourage the implementation of projects to assist coastal communities to deal with the impact of sea level rise;
– commit to releasing financial resources for vulnerable developing countries to adapt;
– encourage behaviour change including recycling and solar generation;
– recognise climate change’s contribution to an increasing number of global environmental refugees and agree on protections to those displaced by climate change;
– expand research capacity and knowledge base on the impacts of climate change;
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– scale up the application of tools for disaster relief planning and post-disaster recovery; and
– create community and regional level structures that can deliver rapid assistance in the event of natural catastrophes.”
At the opening of CHOGM, Prime Minister, Patrick Manning, referred to the underwater Cabinet meeting that was held by the Government of Maldives in October, 2009. The President and Cabinet members of Maldives signed a document, during a half hour underwater meeting, calling on all nations to cut their carbon emissions. Maldives is the lowest-lying nation in the world. Olivia Lang, BBC, reported:
“President Mohamed Nasheed and 11 ministers, decked in scuba gear, held a meeting 4m (13ft) underwater…to focus on the plight of the Maldives, where rising sea levels threaten to make the nation uninhabitable by the end of the century…The 1192-island chain (population of 350,000 people) is at severe threat from rising sea levels, with 80% of its islands less than a metre above sea level.”
CCSJ welcomes the Commonwealth leaders’ initiative to establish a multi-billion dollar plan – as part of a comprehensive agreement – to help developming nations to deal with climate change and cut greenhouse gases. The fund would start next year and build to $10bn annually by 2012.
In Article 49 of the encyclical, Charity in Truth, Pope Benedict XVI highlights the fact that “questions linked to the care and preservation of the environment today need to give due consideration to the energy problem. The fact that some States, power groups and companies hoard non-renewable energy resources represents a grave obstacle to development in poor countries.
“Those countries lack the economic means either to gain access to existing sources of non-renewable energy or to finance research into new alternatives. The stockpiling of natural resources, which in many cases are found in the poor countries themselves, gives rise to exploitation and frequent conflicts between and within nations. These conflicts are often fought on the soil of those same countries, with a heavy toll of death, destruction and further decay.
“The international community has an urgent duty to find institutional means of regulating the exploitation of non-renewable resources, involving poor countries in the process, in order to plan together for the future. On this front too, there is a pressing moral need for renewed solidarity, especially in relationships between developing countries and those that are highly industrialized.
The technologically advanced societies can and must lower their domestic energy consumption, either through an evolution in manufacturing methods or through greater ecological sensitivity among their citizens. It should be added that at present it is possible to achieve improved energy efficiency while at the same time encouraging research into alternative forms of energy.”
Inter-generational justice demands that we do not leave a ‘mess’ for the youths of the world to clean up after we are gone. Let us pray that there will be a positive outcome in Copenhagen.
Please email feedback on this article to: ccsjfeedback@gmail.com To purchase: The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, Take a Bite Social Justice Programme on DVD, and the Responses to 101 Questions on Catholic Social Teaching, contact CCSJ at 622 2691 or 290 1635.
