Pope Francis made an appeal on Tuesday for the world to “coordinately” fight the environmental crisis and urged the richest countries to lead it and pay off the “ecological debt” with the poorest.
The statements by the leader of the Catholic Church are contained in a message sent to the 26th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26), which is being held in the city of Glasgow, UK.
“Sadly, we must bitterly note that we are far from achieving the desired goals to combat climate change and we must honestly say: ‘We cannot allow it,'” the pope said in a text read by Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin.
The pontiff highlighted that humanity’s battle implies “a change of epoch”, which requires the commitment of all, especially the richest countries, to whom he asked to pay off the “ecological debt” contracted with the poorest.
According to Francisco, the most prosperous and industrialized nations “should assume a leading role in the discussion of climate finance, in decarbonizing the economic system and people’s lives, as well as in promoting the circular economy and supporting the most vulnerable countries”.
This, according to the leader of the Catholic Church, would represent “a true conversion, individual, but also community”, towards a “more integral and integrative” development model.
Fracisco, who dedicated his second encyclical “Laudato Si”, of 2015, to this issue, stated that in this task “special care” should be taken with the most vulnerable populations, with which “an ecological debt” was generated, which is due to “trade imbalances” between rich and poor.
According to the pope, this situation entails environmental consequences, due to the disproportionate use of natural resources from the same country or from third parties.
“We can’t deny this”, guaranteed the leader of the Catholic Church in the message sent to COP26.
In addition, the pope addressed the external debt, contracted by states with foreign entities, “whose pressure makes part of the development of peoples difficult.”
“The post-pandemic can and must start taking into account all these aspects, also linked to the beginning of careful negotiated procedures for the cancellation of the external debt, associated with a more sustainable and fair economic structure, aimed at facing the climate emergency”, said Francisco .
“It is necessary that developed countries contribute to resolving the ecological debt, significantly limiting the consumption of non-renewable energy and contributing resources to the countries most in need, to promote sustainable development policies and programs”, he added.
Finally, the pope said that “there is no time to wait” because the climate crisis is already causing suffering among the population, especially for children. In addition, he assured that, “soon, environmental migrants will be more numerous than those fleeing conflicts.”
“It is necessary to act with urgency, courage and responsibility”, concluded Francisco, who pointed out to those present at COP26 that he did not attend the conference in person “because it was not possible”.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/in-a-message-pope-calls-for-a-coordinated-fight-against-the-climate-crisis/
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