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CAFOD:
People in Bangladesh are already suffering increased flooding. [Getty ]
Is climate change really happening, and is it anything to do with humans? Human-induced global warming results from activities like fossil fuel burning, deforestation and agriculture, which have released massive quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution. Scientists believe this increase is causing the Earth to warm faster than at any time in at least 2,000 years. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – the global authority on climate change, which takes evidence from thousands of scientists from over 130 countries – concludes that there is a more than 90 per cent chance that the observed warming since the 1950s is due to human activity. The world has previously experienced warmer and colder periods without interference from humans. However, such a rapid increase in average global temperatures over the last century cannot be accounted for by natural factors alone. This increase in temperature leads to changes in climate including sea level rise and unpredictable rainfall. Why is CAFOD campaigning on climate change – what does it have to do with poverty? Our partners overseas already help poor communities cope with the impact of increased floods, droughts and extreme weather. People have always had to adapt to variable climate patterns, but climate change will increase the frequency and severity of extreme weather. This will stretch people’s ability to adapt to its limit, especially the poorest who will be most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change but have done least to cause the problem. Millions risk being pushed deeper into poverty, for example by losing homes and crops in floods and droughts or by being caught up in conflict over lack of water or other resources. Despite our best efforts, the work that our supporters have funded over decades to reduce poverty risks being undone. We provide emergency aid, help people adapt to changes in climate and to prepare for disasters before they happen. But a global problem like this needs a global solution. In order to avoid catastrophic climate change, we need governments to tackle the root causes of the problem by cutting emissions. What does campaigning on climate change have to do with my faith? Nature reveals God to us. The world is a gift from God and its future is intimately bound up with our own lives and choices. Climate change not only threatens the natural world, but also the lives and livelihoods of our global neighbours, especially the world’s poorest communities. Our faith calls us to live simply, sustainably and in solidarity with people who are poor. So doing our bit to tackle climate change is a fundamental part of expressing our faith. In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI called on us “to care for the environment: [which] has been entrusted to men and women to be protected and cultivated with responsible freedom, with the good of all as a constant guiding criterion”. What is the Climate Justice campaign calling for? In December 2009, world leaders at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Copenhagen will be negotiating a new global climate change deal to start in 2012. This is a crucial opportunity to take just and decisive action before it is too late. The UK Government must take a lead in establishing a fair and binding agreement that: · recognises and supports the right to sustainable development of people in developing countries · provides additional, sufficient and secure funding and technical support from industrialised countries to help developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change · commits industrialised countries to more than 40 per cent cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, based on 1990 levels. In 2008, spurred on by campaigners, our government committed to emissions cuts in its new Climate Change Act. As a result, the world's first legally-binding carbon budgets were announced in April 2009. We welcome the budget but are concerned that the current commitment of just 34 per cent emissions cuts by 2020 based on 1990 levels will not be enough. The UK Climate Change Committee advises the UK to cut greenhouse gases by 42 per cent in the same timeframe, because the UK is responsible for more pollution than most other industrialised countries. We believe that most of these emissions cuts must be made domestically, rather than by rich countries buying "offset" emissions, where they pay other countries to make cuts but carry on polluting themselves. Published on 28/05/2008, last updated on 13/10/2009
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