During March, CAFOD launched its Climate Justice Campaign throughout England and Wales. In our Diocese we held two launches at Masses at St Wilfrid’s and English Martyrs parishes in York, where Lay Sohea and Khim Sarin, two Cambodian environmental experts from our partner Development Partnership Action (DPA) shared their first-hand experience of changes in climate.

CAFOD Director, Chris Bain, says ‘Developing countries bear the brunt of climate change and yet have done the least to cause it. By standing together and raising our voices we can have a real influence on whether governments choose to protect the most vulnerable people in the world. This campaign is vital for people’s survival.’

In Cambodia, irregular rainfall is making it harder to grow rice, while water shortages in the dry season mean it’s harder for people to access clean and safe water. They will show how they are supporting local communities to cope with these damaging effects.

The campaign will continue throughout the year and create a worldwide groundswell of Catholics calling on their governments for a fair and binding agreement in the run-up to the United Nations Climate Change Talks in Copenhagen in December. CAFOD’s campaign is calling on the UK Government to take a lead among the European Union countries at these talks. We are asking that:

Governments negotiate a socially just post 2012 climate agreement that includes:

• Recognition and support for the right to sustainable development of people in developing countries
• Provision by industrialised countries of sufficient and secure funding and technical support to help developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change
• Commitment by industrialised countries to at least a 30-40% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, based on 1990 levels

We need to act now. Your voice and signature can make a difference. We would like to see every parish in our Diocese participate in this increasingly important campaign by organising card signing events following Mass, holding prayer vigils and other events that can help put Climate Justice on everyone’s agenda.

As Catholics we have the theology to back up what we are wanting to achieve but do we have the urgency as individuals, communities and as a Church to bring about the kind of changes needed to make sure that our children and the children of our brothers and sisters around the world have a sustainable future to look forward to?

This urgency for action is starkly summed-up by Bishop Theotonius Gomes of Bangladesh who said ‘People in countries such as Bangladesh are totally dependent on the weather. Our agriculture, and hence our whole culture, is based on water from the rains and rivers. Changed rainfall patterns, harsher storms and longer droughts are already costing lives and livelihoods. We have seen a rapid increase in the need for relief efforts and emergency food supplies over the past few years. It is estimated that, within the next ten years, there will be 200 million climate refugees, of whom 25% are projected to be from Bangladesh.

Industrialised countries are responsible for 70% of carbon dioxide emitted since the start of the industrial era, while developing countries are most vulnerable to changes in weather patterns and other effects of climate change, and have the least capacity to cope.’

Order your campaign action cards from the CAFOD Diocesan Office on (01904) 671767 or by e-mailing middlesbrough@cafod.org.uk or directly from CAFOD at www.cafod.org.uk If you need support in holding an event or would like to have a speaker, please get in touch with David or Carol on the above telephone number or by e-mail.

David Cross