Early last month, the new U.S Administration announced withdrawal from the Paris agreement (Cop21) on climate change, drawing anger and condemnation from world leaders, civil society, churches and Christian organisations worldwide.
The COP21 climate conference took place in Paris in December 2015, and was aimed at reaching a global agreement on the reduction of climate change. In the adopted version of the so called ‘’Paris Agreement’’, the parties determined their own contribution in order to mitigate global warming, and agreed on “pursuing efforts to” limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C.
The agreement marks a crucial step forward in the fight against climate change, and represents the world’s first legally binding climate deal.
So it’s no surprise that political and religious leaders, NGOs, artists and intellectuals across the planet are deeply shocked and concerned by the United States withdrawal.The effects of climate change will directly concern global nutrition, fresh water availability, and global health. It will thereby threaten the existence of millions of people, encouraging mass migration phenomena.
Care for creation has become an increasingly popular topic also within our membership, and many are the projects they organised along with civil society and local authorities. Our members, working daily with the most vulnerable in our society, perfectly know how the present global development model and its effects on fragile economies and biodiversity is already threatening the lives of the world’s poorest people.
When the Garden of Eden is under threat, diaconal organisations and individuals must speak out and act as an expression of their commitment to social justice. There can’t be social justice without environmental peace, which can only be accomplished by overcoming the current model based on over-consumption and unsustainable development.
Our members will keep working to ensure the rights of the people in the margins to live a safe and decent life, in the knowledge that changing the world model starts with us all.
Have a good weekend,
Antonio