Turn climate words into action say Commonwealth faith leaders

Source: CAFOD

More than 170 faith leaders from across the Commonwealth have issued a call to governments to turn "words into action" on climate change at a summit in London this week.

A letter published in the Daily Telegraph in London and signed by dozens of religious leaders states that "Not even the remotest corner of the Commonwealth remains unaffected" by the changing climate, with the greatest impact felt by the poorest people in the group of nations.

The signatories - including archbishops, church moderators and rabbis from all continents in the Commonwealth - call for politicians attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to pursue "every effort" to keep global temperature rises below the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 degrees Celsius. The meeting will take place at Buckingham Palace, St James's Palace and Windsor Castle between Monday 16 and Friday 20 April.

Some of the senior Catholic figures to sign the letter include Maurice Piat Cardinal Archbishop of Mauritius, the President of the Antilles Episcopal Conference Bishop Gabriel Malzaire, Denis Wiehe CSSp, Bishop of Port-Victoria, Seychelles, Edward Tamba Charles, Archbishop of Freetown, Sierra Leone, Julian Leow, Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, John Ribat, Cardinal Archbishop of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea and President of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conference of Oceania (including Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu), John Atcherley Dew, Cardinal Archbishop of Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, Patrick Dunn, Bishop of Auckland, President, New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference.

The official website for the summit states that "urgent action" on climate change is needed "to reduce vulnerability and increase resilience" and notes that 39 of the 53 Commonwealth countries are classed as small or vulnerable states.

The faith leaders' statement is the latest in a series of calls by religious figures for action on climate change at international summits. Several heads of government cited Pope Francis's encyclical on the environment as a catalyst for the success of the UN climate talks that resulted in the Paris Agreement in 2015.

The letter says:

We, faith leaders from across the Commonwealth, representing peoples of Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Europe and the Americas, come together in friendship and co-operation to mark the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London.

Not even the remotest corner of the Commonwealth remains unaffected or unthreatened by the impacts of climate change. Commonwealth citizens, especially the poorest, struggle to thrive amidst our changing climate.

Subsistence communities in African countries struggle to grow crops in increasingly arid earth. In the Pacific, rising sea levels threaten the existence of whole countries. In Asia, salination is driving people from their land. Arctic communities' ways of life are undermined. Ever more violent and unpredictable storms devastate the Caribbean.

At the scale of the Commonwealth we can see that the crisis of poverty and the crisis of ecology are one; each of our faith traditions reminds us of the deep interconnectedness of people and our planet. As a common problem, this crisis requires a common solution. And it is needed now.

The Charter of the Commonwealth affirms the foundations for cooperation between Commonwealth nations. But it is time to turn words into action. We call on the Heads of Government gathering in London to commit to urgent action on climate change adaptation and mitigation in line with the Paris Agreement and to pursue every effort to keep the increase in average global temperature below 1.5 degrees.

Our people call out to you. We stand beside them. Your time to act is now.

You can see a full list of signatories here: https://cafod.org.uk/News/Campaigning-news/Turn-climate-words-into-action