Scottish Catholic Observer

A joint call for the world’s governments to wake up to the reality of climate change has been issued by an international alliance of Catholic development organisations that includes SCIAF.

All present at the CIDSE conference in Warsaw this week signed up to a document which ‘calls for concrete progress towards an ambitious and fair global climate deal by 2015’ as ‘it is crucial that governments move forward on the critical issues’ ahead of the UN summit on climate change.

Delegates at the conference heard dire warnings of the dangers of climate change from speakers, including European Commissioner Connie Hedegaard; Archbishop Celestino Migliore, head of Holy See delegation and Apostolic Nuncio to Poland; and Paul Wheelhouse, the Scottish Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

The conference, co-organised with Caritas Poland and the Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University, gathered faith groups, politicians and climate scientists to work together towards climate justice on the occasion of the COP19 climate negotiations.

Archbishop Migliore opened the conference with an inspired plea.

“Climate change is an ethical challenge for our civilization, asking us what changes we need to affect in our economic life, in the structures of our society and in the way we consume,” he said.

Philippa Bonella, head of communications and education for the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF), attended the conference. She said it had underlined that the world could ignore climate change no longer.

“At SCIAF we work with some of the most marginalised and vulnerable people, particularly small farmers,” she said. “They tell us of the devastating impact that climate change is already having on their livelihoods and their families. This is what motivates us to campaign, in the hope that urgent action by the international community will safeguard the environment for the poorest people”.

Ms Bonella added that this year’s UN conference was the last, best hope for a fair climate change deal.

“This year’s UN climate summit is an important step on the way to the global deal we hope to see in 2015,” she said. “It is an opportunity for the EU and wealthy nations to take seriously our common responsibility for the earth and our environment. Current climate targets are inadequate and set us on course for a much warmer world, with dangerous consequences particularly for poor nations.

“Financial assistance from the richest nations is urgently needed to help developing nations adapt to the impacts of climate change and to help them develop on a low-carbon path. Rich nations have already promised to provide $100bn per year in climate finance by 2020 but very little of this has materialised. It’s very important that these promises are made real.”

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