Religious observers find conflict surfaces early at UN climate conference
(Dec.08,2009): The underlying tension between the world's largest producers of greenhouse
gases and small countries, quickly surfaced on the first day of the U.N. conference
on climate change in Copenhagen, Denmark. In smaller gatherings, after Danish Prime
Minister Lars Rasmussen opened the conference on Monday with the remark that a
deal is within our reach, the Alliance of Small Island States said it would accept
nothing less than a legally binding pact to limit greenhouse gases. A much less demanding
but politically appealing agreement would do little to protect its countries from
rising sea levels, said the alliance, a coalition of 42 small island nations, low-lying
coastal countries and territories. Two officials from the U.S.-based Maryknoll Office
of Global Concerns said the position taken by the alliance, serves as a call to the
world, to ensure that developed countries take definitive steps to significantly reduce
their greenhouse gas emissions. Nearly three dozen representatives of Catholic
aid and development organizations are in Copenhagen to deliver a common message that
action must be taken immediately to ease the impact of global climate change on poor
and vulnerable people because they already are being adversely affected by drought,
flooding and rising sea levels, brought on in part by the high levels of greenhouse
gas emissions from more developed countries. Before the world gathering, religious
leaders offered their prayers and called for responsible actions on behalf of the
earth. Meanwhile, in Vietnam, Bishop Paul Bui Van Doc of My Tho urged Catholics
in his southern diocese to focus on preserving the natural world. In an Advent letter,
he asked people to keep waterways clear of pollution and to conserve energy and waste,
as they go about their daily lives. Bishop Doc, head of the Vietnamese bishops' doctrinal
commission, warned Catholics against damaging the environment for personal gain. He
cited deforestation, the release of toxic waste by local factories and the government-run
hydroelectric plants built on rivers in central provinces as causes for concern.