Church group wants action on climate change

Increasing population is a growing burden on depleting natural resources leading to global warming and the sum total of climate change.

Caritas India executive director Father Frederick D’Souza.

New Delhi:  Caritas India, the social service wing of the Indian Church, held a consultation on climate change stressing its commitment for the care of the earth as caretakers.

The consultation on Tuesday gathered its volunteers, staff, NGO collaborators from around Delhi along with its governing board members and the various offices of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India.

"Caritas is committed for the care of the earth as caretakers, and is backed by collaborators from across India and abroad," said Caritas India executive director Father Frederick D’Souza.

An exclusive report on the ecologically sensitive Sundarbans, which Caritas prepared, was released at the consultation UN official Prabjhot Sodhi. He is national coordinator of Global Environment Facility of United Nations Environment Programme

Director Sanjay Vashisht, director of Climate Action Network of South Asia, a coalition of NGOs dealing with climate change, facilitated the daylong consultation. He said year’s series of floods in the country are visible impact of climate change.

Increased in the global mean temperature, reduction in snow cover since late 1960s by 10 percent and rise in sea level by a maximum of 20 centimeters are three major indicators confirming climate change globally, he said.

“Climate change allows conducive environment for Ebola like viruses,” Vashisht said.

Increasing population is a growing burden on depleting natural resources leading to global warming and the sum total of climate change.

“Climate change is not about the saving the planet earth. The earth will always be there, people will go extinct” if we don’t act, he said.

Human beings are known to be the key factor (59 percent responsible) for climate change, according to experts.

Press Release