Religious urge Govt to sign Kyoto treaty

Sydney
23 June 2002

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Religious urge Govt to sign Kyoto treaty

Leaders of Australia’s Catholic and Anglican religious congregations have urged the Australian and US governments to join the European Union and Japan in ratifying the Kyoto Protocol for reducing greenhouse gas emissions before climate change forecasts for the 21st Century bring ecological disaster to the inhabitants of Oceania.

They say Australia has a moral responsibility “to reduce our greenhouse output before the projected effects of global warming – rising sea levels and severe weather patterns – threaten the viability of our neighbours living on low-lying Pacific islands”.

Sr Marlette Black (pictured), chair of the justice committee of the Australian Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes, says the relationship between religious congregations in Australia and New Zealand and the island nations of Oceania is close because of the shared history of missionary work in the region.

“Today, across 50 island nations in Oceania, about 1200 members of our congregations are working with local people in vital ministries like health, education and justice,” she said.

“Respect for the indigenous people, their land and their culture is inherent in this work.”

The religious, she says, cannot ignore global warming forecasts “which predict rises in seas levels of between nine and 88 centi-metres” before the end of the century.

“Pacific island countries are among the most vulnerable to the impact of climate and sea-level change as most of the population, socio

economic activities and infrastructure are located along or near coastal areas,” she said.

“Even on large, high islands, the inhabitable land tends to be on the coastal fringe and, therefore, highly vulnerable to increases in storm frequencies and flooding.”

Sr Marlette said the Kyoto Protocol, which was 10 years in the making, “is the only agreement we have”.

As religious men and women “our Christian tradition puts the common good before greed and short term benefits and gives us an ethical response to the challenge of global climate change.”