'Durban climate deal insufficient' says Caritas

(Dec. 14, 2011) Caritas Internationalis, the Church’s confederation of national relief and development agencies, stated in a Press release on Tuesday that the agreement reached at the Durban Climate Conference in South Africa, left the world facing a catastrophic increase in global temperatures of four degrees Celsius. Participants at the United Nations Conference pledged to negotiate an agreement by 2015 that will take effect in 2020. Caritas welcomed the progress made during talks, but says science shows it is not enough to stop widespread droughts and the creation of millions of migrants, as food production collapses. “We are all polluting the environment now and everyone, every country should take responsibility for that” said Martina Liebsch, Caritas Director of advocacy and public policy. Caritas said it was important to get the commitment at Durban towards a legally binding deal on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Caritas also welcomed steps towards setting up a “Green Climate Fund” for poorer countries vulnerable to the impact of climate change but said it regrets that countries have not lived up to their pledges