Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Freiburg (Agenzia Fides) – Today, November 23, Environmental Affairs Ministers of Europe will meet in Brussels to agree a common position in light of the UN Summit on Climate Change to be held in Copenhagen in two weeks (December 7-18, 2009). The Working Group for Catholic Emergency Aid (Arbeitskreis Katholischer Not-und Katastrophenhilfe, KANK), of which the Pontifical Mission Societies in Germany - Missio Aachen and Munich - German missionary and children ("Die Sternsinger") are also a member, asked that in these days greater efforts may be made to reduce greenhouse gases by industrialized countries and to allocate financial assistance for victims of climate change.
As the spokesman of the working group and head of Caritas International, Oliver Müller, emphasized in a note sent to Fides, the project partners in regions affected by natural disasters often remind that climate change is more a responsibility of the industrialized countries, "as a result these countries should also repair the damage that these changes have caused up until now, especially in developing countries."
Quoting the statement of the German Bishops in 2006, members of KANK also stress that "this is not almsgiving, but justice." Global climate change causes more frequent natural disasters, hurricanes, torrential rains and floods or drought. All this destroys the natural environment of living things and sources of livelihood, causing an increase in poverty and threatening efforts for development, as well as making global injustice increase. According to the predictions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in the coming years the risk of disasters will increase rapidly in many regions of the world. The most affected will be precisely the most vulnerable countries, those in the developing world and the many poor people living in those regions. (MS) (Agenzia Fides 23/11/2009)
