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Vatican Issues Major Report on Science of Climate Change May 6th, 2011
Thanks to the Catholic Climate Covenant campaign for the information in this post.
A working group of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, one of the oldest scientific institutes in the world, has issued a sobering report on the implications for humankind of the melting of glaciers from human-induced climate change. In their declaration, the working group calls, “on all people and nations to recognize the serious and potentially irreversible impacts of global warming caused by the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants, and by changes in forests, wetlands, grasslands, and other land uses.” They echoed Pope Benedict XVI’s 2010 World Day of Peace Message saying, “…if we want justice and peace, we must protect the habitat that sustains us.”
The report, which now brings the moral authority of the Vatican to bear on this important debate, focuses on the global retreat of mountain glaciers which results from human activity and warns that, “Failure to mitigate climate change will violate our duty to the vulnerable of the Earth, including those dependent on the water supply of mountain glaciers, and those facing rising sea level and stronger storm surges. Our duty includes the duty to help vulnerable communities adapt to changes that cannot be mitigated. All nations must ensure that their actions are strong enough and prompt enough to address the increasing impacts and growing risk of climate change and to avoid catastrophic irreversible consequences.” (Emphasis added.)
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Investors Encourage Corporations to Report on Water Use April 16th, 2011
Thirty-three faith-based and socially responsible institutional investors with assets under management of $2.3 trillion have written to encourage companies who failed to submit a 2010 report to the Carbon Disclosure Project’s Water Disclosure Project. The investors, which included the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, are encouraging the heavy water-using companies targeted by the Report to complete the questionnaire for 2011, or explain why they are not planning to participate. Company submissions can help identify areas of both strength and weakness in water management.
Many corporations are only now beginning to look seriously at their water use, realizing that a global water crisis could pose significant risks if this vital resource is not managed carefully. Climate Change is widely expected to aggravate worldwide water shortages in the coming decades. Credit Suisse estimates that, by 2020, 37 percent of the global population will face severe water stress.
Increased demand is a major problem. Since the 1940s, the global population has tripled to more than 6 billion people worldwide. Over the same period, global water use has quadrupled. Agriculture uses 70-80% of the water used globally. In many areas, including parts of the US, which are drawing on underground aquifers, this rate of water use is unsustainable, in other words, it is being used at a faster rate than it is being replenished.
While the metrics for reporting on water use are in the process of being refined at an international level, the CDP Water Disclosure is an important step in this process.
The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate have been engaging a range of U.S. companies on water use and reporting issues, and are a signatory to the CDP Water Disclosure Project.
Haitian Immigrant Deportations Should Be Halted April 1st, 2011
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has resumed deportations to Haiti, a development about which we are deeply concerned. Deportations place an unnecessary burden on Haiti, which is still struggling to recover from the devastating earthquake of January 2010. Reconstruction continues in the country, but at a very slow pace, with hundreds of thousands of people still living in tent cities. What is worse is that Haiti’s jails, where the Haitian government usually holds deportees, are notorious for their inhumane treatment of detainees.
Deportations from the U.S. to Haiti had been halted on humanitarian grounds when the earthquake devastated Haiti. On January 20, 2011, the U.S. resumed deportations to Haiti, deporting an estimated 27 people of Haitian origin with criminal records. One has died already in prison from cholera-like symptoms.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Migration has expressed deep opposition to the recent resumption of deportations, citing the slow recovery from the earthquake, the recent outbreak of cholera, and concern that this would communicate the wrong message to the Haitian people, who are depending upon the United States for long-term support in their effort to recover from the earthquake.
E-Digest on Freedom of Religion: 25 years of thought by four UN Special Rapporteurs March 31st, 2011
From freedom from coercion, to State religion; from the right to manifest one’s religion or belief, to religious intolerance and extremism: on the 25th anniversary of the mandate’s establishment, UN Special Rapporteur Heiner Bielefeldt has put together a key reference e-book with observations and recommendations by the four independent experts who have served on the Freedom of Religion or Belief mandate since 1986.
The “Rapporteur’s Digest on Freedom of Religion or Belief” is a 108-page downloadable compilation of relevant excerpts from reports produced by Mr. Bielefeldt (Germany, IE since August 2010), Ms. Asma Jahangir (Pakistan, 2004-2010), Mr. Abdelfattah Amor (Tunisia, 1993-2004), and Mr. Angelo d’Almeida Ribeiro (Portugal, 1986-1993).
Read the “Rapporteur’s Digest on Freedom of Religion or Belief” (Download PDF)
Socially Responsible Investors Submit Guidance for Conflict Minerals Rule March 29th, 2011
The Oblates joined a large group of socially responsible investors in a letter providing specific comments to the SEC on the Conflict Mineral Provision 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Finance Reform Act.
