Exactly two months before the 21st Conference of Parties in Paris in November, a Catholic priest on Tuesday said cooperation among nations and a renewal of faith can save the world from climate change.
“Sana ay magkaisa at ibigay yung todong kayang ibigay sa pangangalaga sa kalikasan, at panawagan para sa reduction ng emission ng carbon, at ito ay paninindgan na dapat makatarungan din,” Father Edu Gariguez, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP)-National Secretariat for Social Action, said over church-run Radyo Veritas.
Gariguez urged wealthier nations, whom he also called as more destructive, to extend help and assistance to smaller and less capable countries in their fight against the adverse effects of climate change.
“’Yung mga mayayamang bansa na sila yung mas higit na mapanira ay mas higit na magtaya at managot, at yung mga maliliit na bansa na mga mahihihirap na hindi naman ganun kalaki ang kontribusyon sa global warming ay huwag parusahan, kundi mas higit na bigyan ng tulong lalo’t higit sa climate adaptation at para din mas maging resilient yung mga communities na apektado,” he said.
Echoing Pope Francis, who released an encyclical on the environment, Gariguez said nations should help one another in curbing the global problem instead of advancing personal interests and taking advantage of one another.
“Tulungan hindi gulangan at managot, kaya nga ang panawagan din natin dito hindi lang climate change, kundi climate justice na dapat tingnan natin ng katarunngan sa sitwasyong ito na managot yung higit na nagdulot ng pagkapinsala ng climate natin,” Gariguez added.
World leaders are expected to sign an agreement to reduce carbon emission at the 21st COP in Paris, which will begin on Nov. 30.
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