CAFOD has warned that the consequences of a weak deal on climate change in Copenhagen will be felt first by poorer nations where climate impacts are already devastating lives and livelihoods.
In a statement, CAFOD Director, Chris Bain called on world leaders to agree a legally binding and fair deal at the UN climate change talks. He warned of a "total breakdown" of the infrastructures that offer protection and a future to the poorest people.
"The good work that has been done on improving and empowering the lives of millions of people in the developing world is being hampered by climate change,” he warned.
He underlined that "As climate change worsens in countries like Bangladesh and Kenya, development agencies such as CAFOD will have to put more resources into emergency aid for communities instead of being able to focus on projects that help families function independently into the future.”
The CAFOD Director said, "If the world's rich nations fail to reach a credible and legally binding deal at Copenhagen that puts the poorest at its core through sufficient financial reparations for the damage we have done to their climates from our own industrialisation, they will force the poorest to the margins of existence.
"World leaders must listen to the poorest people and take strong action at Copenhagen to safeguard their futures and a future for all of us."
CAFOD is calling for rich nations to deliver $195 billion additional finance each year to help the poorest nations adapt to climate change and set them on a path towards a low carbon economy.
The aid agency believes the industrialised nations must commit to a reduction in greenhouse gases of at least 40 percent by 2020 based on 1990 levels in order to prevent warming reaching the danger level of a global increase of 2 degrees celsius.
Meanwhile, the Vatican is sending a five-member delegation to the conference in Copenhagen, which will be headed up by an experienced diplomat and includes experts on the environment.
Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican's permanent observer to the UN, is scheduled to speak to the UN during the 7-18 December conference.
The Church’s delegation includes climate expert Marcus Wandinger, who has published numerous articles on environmental issues, and an official of the Vatican Secretariat of State, Paolo Conversi, who teaches human ecology at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University.
Caritas Internationalis, the umbrella organisation for more than 150 Catholic charities, will also be represented at the summit.
Caritas and Catholic International Cooperation for Development and Solidarity have called for a "fair, effective and binding agreement in Copenhagen" that is based on several essential criteria including public financing for developing countries to adapt to climate change and reductions of green house gas emissions.
