On the occasion of World Environment Day, celebrated on June 5, this campaign calls for global mobilization of all social stakeholders and citizens ahead of the upcoming COP24 in Poland, and warns that the worst impacts of global warming will fall on developing countries and the most vulnerable communities in the coming decades.
This day, therefore, is a day of special significance for the IF YOU CARE FOR THE PLANET, YOU FIGHT POVERTY Campaign, an awareness-raising initiative that emerged two years ago under the inspiration of the encyclical Laudato si' with the aim of "listening to the cry of the poor and of the earth," raising awareness of the need to promote care for Creation, and reversing climate change and environmental degradation through a change in personal attitudes and global policies.
The entities that promote the Campaign â CĂĄritas, CEDIS, CONFER, Justice and Peace, Manos Unidas and REDES (Network of Entities for Solidarity Development) â recall, within the framework of this celebration, their call to combat the effects of climate change and to avoid all those practices and habits that currently promote global warming and whose worst impacts will fall in the coming decades on the most impoverished communities on the planet.
Social mobilization before COP24
This objective is especially necessary at a time when the commitments made in the Paris Agreement are in jeopardy given the possible withdrawal of some signatory governments, which calls for the global mobilization of all social stakeholders and citizens ahead of the upcoming COP24 in Poland.
World Environment Day is a prime opportunity to remember that the climate is a common good that has been altered in recent decades by the high concentration of polluting gases, primarily due to human activity. This phenomenon is further exacerbated by a development pattern based on the intensive use of fossil fuels, which constitute the core of the global energy system.
The urgent question to be answered is how much time we have left to find solutions before the entire planetary ecosystem collapses.
Technical solutions
For this reason, the IF YOU CARE FOR THE PLANET, YOU FIGHT POVERTY Campaign advocates for technical solutions to climate change based on the use of new types of energy that prevent energy waste and counteract the effects of existing sources.
This calls for measures such as, among others, switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy, promoting energy-saving methods, replacing private transport with emission-free public transport, building green homes and buildings, halting deforestation and regenerating forests, switching from intensive agricultural techniques to environmentally friendly ones, working with developing countries to improve without copying the bad habits experienced until now, promoting the use of the three Rs (reduce, reuse, and recycle), and replacing polluting materials and processes.
Worst effects on the most vulnerable
Climate change is a global problem with serious environmental, social, economic, distributive, and political dimensions, and poses one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today. It must not be forgotten, moreover, that the worst impacts will likely fall on developing countries and the most vulnerable regions in the coming decades.
Many poor communities live in areas particularly affected by global warming-related phenomena, and their livelihoods depend heavily on natural resources and cycles, such as agriculture, fisheries, and forest resources. These countries, which are least responsible for climate change, emitting fewer greenhouse gases into the atmosphere through their lifestyles and production, are also those with the fewest resources to adapt to the effects of global warming.
Climate change, on the other hand, is responsible for population movements that cause those forced to migrate great uncertainty and insecurity about the future of their lives and that of their children. Particularly tragic is the increase in migrants fleeing miserable conditions aggravated by environmental degradation, yet who are not recognized as refugees under international conventions and therefore lack any protection.
Sense of responsibility
The entities promoting the Campaign denounce the almost generalized indifference with which these mobility tragedies occur in different parts of the world, which, as Pope Francis points out in Laudato sĂ, reveals "the loss of that sense of responsibility for our fellow men on which all civil society is founded" (LS 25).
For all these reasons, it is urgent to implement policies aimed at drastically reducing the emission of carbon dioxide and other highly polluting gases in the coming years, replacing, for example, the use of fossil fuels and developing renewable energy sources. And while some countries have made significant progress and have invested in more efficient forms of production and transportation, these good practices are far from becoming widespread.
The challenges of climate change and environmental degradation remain numerous. There is so much work to be done that the IF YOU CARE FOR THE PLANET, YOU FIGHT POVERTY Campaign must move forward, both to continue impacting the basic aspects of the initiativeâbecause both the planet and the poorest people continue to urge us to maintain the battle for sustainability and care for our common homeâand to maintain our alliance as development institutions of the Church on pilgrimage in Spain to promote the change of attitudes proposed in the Green Decalogue.
More information at https://www.enlazateporlajusticia.org
Photos: Juan Ciudad NGO Senegal and Peru.
Source: Press release from the Network of Entities for Solidarity Development.
