Gabrielle Fogarty writes: This report followed a meeting in Rome on Tuesday this week which is being treated as a forerunner to the environment encyclical and a gathering of ideas from world leaders
Declaration of Religious Leaders, Political Leaders, Business
Leaders,
Scientists and Development Practitioners
28 April 2015
We the undersigned have assembled at the Pontifical Academies of
Sciences and Social
Sciences to address the challenges of human-induced climate change,
extreme poverty,
and social marginalization, including human trafficking, in the
context of sustainable
development. We join together from many faiths and walks of life,
reflecting
humanity s shared yearning for peace, happiness, prosperity,
justice, and
environmental sustainability. We have considered the overwhelming
scientific
evidence regarding human-induced climate change, the loss of
biodiversity, and the
vulnerabilities of the poor to economic, social, and environmental
shocks.
In the face of the emergencies of human-induced climate change,
social exclusion, and
extreme poverty, we join together to declare that:
Human-induced climate change is a scientific reality, and its
decisive mitigation is a
moral and religious imperative for humanity;
In this core moral space, the world's religions play a very vital
role. These traditions
all affirm the inherent dignity of every individual linked to the
common good of all
humanity. They affirm the beauty, wonder, and inherent goodness of
the natural
world, and appreciate that it is a precious gift entrusted to our
common care, making
it our moral duty to respect rather than ravage the garden that is
our home;
The poor and excluded face dire threats from climate disruptions,
including the
increased frequency of droughts, extreme storms, heat waves, and
rising sea levels;
The world has within its technological grasp, financial means, and
know-how the
means to mitigate climate change while also ending extreme poverty,
through the
application of sustainable development solutions including the
adoption of low-
carbon energy systems supported by information and communications
technologies;
The financing of sustainable development, including climate
mitigation, should be
bolstered through new incentives for the transition towards
low-carbon energy, and
through the relentless pursuit of peace, which also will enable the
shift of public
financing from military spending to urgent investments for
sustainable development;
The world should take note that the climate summit in Paris later
this year (COP21)
may be the last effective opportunity to negotiate arrangements that
keep human-
induced warming below 2-degrees C, and aim to stay well below
2-degree C for safety,
yet the current trajectory may well reach a devastating 4-degrees C
or higher;
Political leaders of all UN member states have a special
responsibility to agree at
COP21 to a bold climate agreement that confines global warming to a
limit safe for
humanity, while protecting the poor and the vulnerable from ongoing
climate change
that gravely endangers their lives. The high-income countries should
help to finance
the costs of climate-change mitigation in low-income countries as
the high-income
countries have promised to do;
Climate-change mitigation will require a rapid world transformation
to a world
powered by renewable and other low-carbon energy and the sustainable
management
of ecosystems. These transformations should be carried out in the
context of globally
agreed Sustainable Development Goals, consistent with ending extreme
poverty;
ensuring universal access for healthcare, quality education, safe
water, and
sustainable energy; and cooperating to end human trafficking and all
forms of modern
slavery;
All sectors and stakeholders must do their part, a pledge that we
fully commit to in
our individual capacities.