SEVERAL religious groups and faith-based organizations have joined the global call for climate justice and reparations as the 28th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates entered its crucial final days of negotiations from December 11 to 12, 2023.
“The world’s poorest countries are hit hardest by climate change, despite contributing least to its cause. To mitigate injustice, we urge you to establish an inclusive Loss and Damage Fund which gets money to the people who need the most,” said Archbishop Isao Kikuchi, president of Caritas Internationalis, the humanitarian and development arm of the Roman Catholic church.
“Together, we can do this by taking the voices of those affected into consideration in global decision-making, especially as this be discussed at the next COP28,” Kikuchi said in a statement.
“Wealthy countries most responsible for climate change have pledged $700 million to the Loss and Damage Fund until now. That is, unfortunately, less than 0.2 percent of the losses developing countries face from global heating every year. This isn’t charity; it’s justice,” added Kikuchi, as he asked global leaders at COP28 to finance the fund more generously.
Meanwhile, the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) expressed dismay over the developments at the COP28.
“Being from one of the most affected countries by long-term impacts of the climate crisis, we are gravely disappointed over the weak developments in COP28,” said the NCCP newly-elected General Secretary Minnie Anne Mata-Calub.
“Our churches are witnesses to the real-time impacts of the climate crisis, and we’re seeing how communities in the Philippines are being pushed by the crisis to adapt because failure to do so would mean hunger, displacement, or even slow death for them,” added Calub in a statement
According to Calub, the failure of COP28 to address the significant need for support in the Loss and Damage Fund and reparations hits close to home.
"Our first disappointment was on the meager support garnered by the Loss and Damage Fund from wealthy nations, especially from big polluters. With the great humanitarian and development need caused by the climate crisis, these drops in the bucket are simply not enough," she said.
NCCP noted that at the beginning of the plenary in COP28, wealthy countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Italy, France, US and Japan have pledged a total of just over $700 million or less than 0.2 percent of the global annual target of $400 billion.
“We are also dismayed over the watering down of the commitment to phase out fossil fuels, in the plenary discussions and COP text. At this point in time, humanity deserves nothing short of the phaseout of the dirty industries that gave birth to the climate crisis," added Calub.
The NCCP leader reacted to the draft text released by the COP28 presidency which called for “reducing both the consumption and production of fossil fuels, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, so as to achieve net zero by, before or around 2050, in keeping with the science.”.
Over the weekend, more than 300 protest actions were staged all over the world to demand urgent climate action.
Thousands of members of grassroots movements, non-government organizations, and multi-sectoral alliances also joined in mass actions held simultaneously in 55 areas across the country.
Organizers of the street mobilizations said they aim to contribute to the "chorus of global voices" putting pressure on governments and decision-makers at the COP28.
“Pope Francis in Laudate Deum eloquently reminds us that our planet is a gift, a delicate tapestry woven with the threads of biodiversity, beauty, and interconnectedness. Yet, this tapestry is being destroyed before our eyes due to the wounds inflicted by human irresponsibility,” wrote Pablo Virgilio David, Bishop of Kalookan and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
“We are called not merely to witness but to be stewards of change,” David said in a statement, as he urged Filipinos to join the global movement for climate justice.
“Let us heed the call to care for our common home, not as passive observers but as active agents of transformations. May our collective efforts echo the profound message of Laudate Deum, igniting a global movement towards ecological stewardship and justice,” he added.
Extreme weather
The Conference of Major Superiors of the Philippines also maintained that for decades, the scientific communities have been sounding the alarm.
“We are now in a climate emergency. Extreme weather events such as storms, floods, heatwaves, sea level rise, and biodiversity loss have caused untold suffering and losses of human lives and properties,” the religious group said.
In 2022 alone, tropical cyclones in the Philippines caused around P25.03 billion in damages, while environmental defenders and indigenous people fighting against development aggression are subjected to persecution, harassment, red-tagged and sometimes killed, according to the group.
The 2013 Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), one of the most powerful tropical cyclones in the world, resulted in the loss of at least 6,300 lives and caused damages roughly equivalent to 4.7 percent of the country's GDP.
“We continue to long for concrete actions in the face of climate emergency. Time is running out,” the Conference of Major Superiors of the Philippines said.
The faith-based group emphasized that the Philippine government and global leaders must be called to uphold the 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement, “lest we face a more catastrophic future where tragedies even worse than Haiyan are the norm.”
Lidy Nacpil, coordinator of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD), said it is civil society's duty "to escalate pressure to compel governments at the COP28 negotiations to take forward real solutions to the climate crisis."
“We are especially demanding the governments of the world's wealthiest countries - the Global North - who have contributed the most to the problem of climate change to stop evading their responsibilities,” Nacpil said in a statement to the media.
Lawyer Aaron Pedrosa, secretary-general of advocacy group Sanlakas, reiterated that the country and the world “don't need false solutions like fossil gas, ammonia co-firing, and nuclear energy when we can and should transition directly into renewable energy.
The COP28 is expected to deliver clear agreements on fossil fuel phase-out, on the targets for the acceleration of renewable energy development, on just transition programs, and the scaling up of climate finance delivery including pledges for the Loss and Damage Fund. (SunStar Philippines)