War on Nature is a violation of human rights Are we heading for climate catastrophe through indifference or ignorance?

War on Nature is a violation of human rights Are we heading for climate catastrophe through indifference or ignorance?

‘It has to be said frankly, we are heading for catastrophe’. These are the words of the UN Secretary General, Antonio Gutierrez, in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde on the eve of COP 27, the UN Climate Change Conference being held in Sharm Al-Sheik, Egypt.  An almost unappealable sentence based on ‘figures that testify to our folly: our plans, if they are implemented, will increase our carbon footprint by 10% between 2010 and 2030, while we would have to reduce it by 45% to hope to keep climate warming at 1.5°C, as the 2015 Paris agreement stipulates. It is suicidal: the trend must be reversed, otherwise we will no longer have a liveable world. The responsibility lies with the G20 countries responsible for 80 per cent of emissions.“ (source: https://www.lemonde.fr).

Photo: https://www.lemonde.fr/

The tone of the speech given by Antonio Guterrez at the opening of COP27 did not change ‘We are driving on a road to hell and we are doing it with our foot on the accelerator. We are losing the battle for life: greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, global temperatures continue to rise.” 

“We are close to the point where climate change will become irreversible,” Guterres reiterated. “Soon the earth’s eight billionth inhabitant will be born: what will we say to him when he is old enough to ask: what did you do to save the world when you had the opportunity?”

A CLIMATE SOLIDARITY PACT IS URGENTLY NEEDED

‘There is only one choice: cooperate or die, climate solidarity or collective suicide’.

The UN Secretary insisted on calling on rich, emerging and developing countries to make a ‘historic climate solidarity pact’ in order to accelerate emissions reductions within this decade and save the world. “It is our only hope”. ”. (link: https://www.avvenire.it/mondo)

We respond to Antonio Guterrez’s heartfelt appeal by also following the path proposed by the UISG, presented in Rome on Thursday 3 November in view of COP 27.

GRATEFUL TO THE CATHOLIC NUNS PRESENT AT COP27

“We call on the global community of world development and international cooperation to engage with the Catholic sisters in the solution, to ensure a prosperous future for all people and for our planet”. This was said by Sister Sheila Kinsey, coordinator of the organisation Sowing hope for the planet, when presenting in Rome the declaration, by the International Union of Superiors General (Uisg), entitled ‘Sisters for the environment: integrating voices from the margins’, in view of Cop27 on climate change and Cop15 on biodiversity. The declaration is based on three pillars: integrating responses to climate change and biodiversity loss, integrating care for people and our planet, and integrating vulnerability from the margins. For Sister Kinsey, it is necessary “to recognise that women religious are in a unique position, they have a role both to bring voices from the margins and to ensure that global commitments are implemented locally”. An integral approach, according to the nun, is fundamental, “to make a difference and achieve the goals of sustainable development”. “We hope,” she says, “that Cop27 will be an opportunity to discuss the consequences in Africa.

Le condizioni di povertà fanno sì che i popoli in Africa siano i più colpiti. Qualsiasi processo decisionale deve essere fatto nel rispetto di coloro che sono più colpiti. Gli obiettivi di sviluppo sostenibili l’anno prossimo si trovano a una tappa intermedia. Questa revisione di medio termine rappresenta una opportunità per le sfide ambientali”. “Il lavoro – conclude – va svolto a livello globale perché siamo a un punto di svolta per il cambiamento”.

And Greta Thunberg?

Photo: https://www.corriere.it/pianeta2030

She stated that she will not attend COP27 because for her, ‘It’s just window-dressing environmentalism… Most of the participating governments do not want to change things’. Thunberg stated that she will pass the baton with respect to the fight on the effects of climate change to the people who are most dramatically affected by climate change, in striking agreement with the Catholic sisters’ statement.