Intervento del Card. Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson
Intervento della Sig.ra Naomi Klein
Intervento del Prof. Ottmar Edenhofer
Intervento del Sig. Bernd Nilles
Campagna su un nuovo stile di vita sostenibile: “Change for the Planet - Care for the People”
Scheda Informativa sulla CIDSE
Alle ore 11.30 di questa mattina, nell’Aula Giovanni Paolo II della Sala Stampa della Santa Sede si tiene una Conferenza stampa per presentare la Conferenza di alto livello “Le persone e il pianeta al primo posto: l’imperativo di cambiare rotta”, che terrà i suoi lavori domani e dopodomani all’Augustinianum (Roma), organizzata dal Pontificio Consiglio della Giustizia e della Pace e dalla CIDSE (rete internazionale di Ong cattoliche per lo Sviluppo).
Intervengono alla Conferenza stampa: la Sig.ra Naomi Klein, Scrittrice; il Prof. Ottmar Edenhofer, Co-Chair del Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); il Sig. Bernd Nilles, Segretario Generale della International Alliance of Catholic Development Organisations (CIDSE).
L’intervento del Card. Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, Presidente del Pontificio Consiglio della Giustizia e della Pace, non presente alla conferenza stampa, è letto dalla Dott.ssa Flaminia Giovanelli, Sotto-Segretario del medesimo Dicastero.
Pubblichiamo di seguito gli interventi dei conferenzieri, un testo sulla Campagna della CIDSE su un nuovo stile di vita sostenibile e una scheda informativa sulla CIDSE:
Intervento del Card. Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson
The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace is happy to join CIDSE, the international alliance of 17 Catholic Development Organisations, in hosting the international conference “People and Planet First: the Imperative to Change Course” here in Rome, 2-3 July 2015.
In the title of the conference, the first aim to be pursued is clearly indicated: “PeopleandPlanet” – not one or the other, not one at the expense of the other.
In fact, the central question asked by the Holy Father in Laudato si’ is: “What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?” (160). It simply cannot be an environment unable to sustain life, nor a place of unending strife among peoples.
“Everything is closely interrelated, and today’s problems call for a vision capable of taking into account every aspect of the global crisis”. This is why Pope Francis proposes an integral ecology “which clearly respects its human and social dimensions” (LS, 131).
The program of the conference that will start tomorrow focuses on climate change.
In Laudato si’, the Holy Father states clearly that climate change is one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day. He recognizes a very solid scientific consensus about the disturbing warming of the climatic system. This is mainly the result of human activity, namely, the intensive and expanding use of fossil fuels.
The Pope notes that the climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all. Yet the costs of climate change are being borne by those least responsible for it and least able to adapt to it—the poor. Overall, climate change is a global problem with a spectrum of serious implications: environmental, social, economic and political.
Facing our leadership is the “urgent need to develop policies so that, in the next few years, the emission of carbon dioxide and other highly polluting gases can be drastically reduced” (26). “The use of highly polluting fossil fuels – especially coal, but also oil and, to a lesser degree, gas – needs to be progressively replaced without delay” with intelligent and widespread access to and use of renewable sources of energy, facilitating this energy transition (165).
Lamenting the failure of past global summits on the environment, the Holy Father calls urgently for enforceable international agreements to stop climate change. He gives many examples, at different levels, of what can be done to “to reverse the trend of global warming” (168, 175) and “to reduce some of the negative impacts of climate change” (26). He prays to God for a favorable outcome to the upcoming discussions (169). He also notes that poorer countries will require financial and other assistance (172).
The COP21 conference for climate change (Paris, 30 November to 11 December 2015) will be crucial in identifying strong solutions for climate change, “accompanied by the gradual framing and acceptance of binding commitments” (180).
The Sustainable Development Goals (2015-2030) are also relevant in this context.1 For example, the 13th proposed SDG will express this imperative: “Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.” Related goals include:
- Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
- Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
- Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
- Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
These goals, similar to important points made in Laudato si’, await the pledges and the will of the whole world community during the 70th U.N. General Assembly beginning in mid-September 2015.
Yet the single biggest obstacle to the “imperative to change course” is not economic, scientific or even technological, but rather within our minds and hearts. “The same mindset which stands in the way of making radical decisions to reverse the trend of global warming also stands in the way of achieving the goal of eliminating poverty. A more responsible overall approach is needed to deal with both problems: the reduction of pollution and the development of poorer countries and regions” (175).
Such a courageous review and reform will take place only if we heed “the call to seek other ways of understanding the economy and progress” (16). The political dimension needs to re-establish democratic control over the economy and finance, that is, over the basic choices made by human societies. This is the path the entire human family is on, the one which leads through New York to Paris and beyond.
_____________
1 https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgsproposal.html
[01148-EN.01] [Original text: English]
Intervento della Signora Naomi Klein
Thank you. It’s an honour to be here today, and especially to share this platform with Cardinal Turkson, who has done so much to bring us to this historic moment.
Pope Francis writes early on that Laudato Si’ is not only a teaching for the Catholic world but for “every person living on this planet.” And I can say that as a secular Jewish feminist who was rather surprised to be invited to the Vatican, it certainly spoke to me.
“We are not God,” the encyclical states. All humans once knew this. But about 400 years ago, dizzying scientific breakthroughs made it seem to some that humans were on the verge of knowing everything there was to know about the Earth, and would therefore be nature’s “masters and possessors,” as René Descartes so memorably put it. This, they claimed, was what God had always wanted.
That theory held for a good long time. But subsequent breakthroughs in science have told us something very different. Because when we were burning ever larger amounts of fossil fuels -convinced that our container ships and jumbo jets had leveled the world, that we were as gods -greenhouse gases were accumulating in the atmosphere and relentlessly trapping heat.
And now we are confronted with the reality that we were never the master, never that boss -and that we are unleashing natural forces that are far more powerful than even our most ingenious machines. We can save ourselves, but only if we let go of the myth of dominance and mastery and learn to work with nature -respecting and harnessing its intrinsic capacity for renewal and regeneration.
And this brings us to the core message of interconnection at the heart of the encyclical. What climate change reaffirms -for that minority of the human species that ever forgot -is that there is no such thing as a one-way relationship of pure mastery in nature. As Pope Francis writes, “Nothing in this world is indifferent to us.”
For some who see interconnection as a cosmic demotion, this is all too much to bear. And so -actively encouraged by fossil-fuel funded political actors - they choose to deny the science.
But that is already changing as the climate changes. And it will likely change more with the publication of the encyclical. This could mean real trouble for American politicians who are counting on using the Bible as cover for their opposition to climate action. In this regard, Pope Francis’s trip to the U.S. this September could not be better timed.
Yet as the encyclical rightly points out, denial takes many forms. And there are many across the political spectrum and around the world who accept the science but reject the difficult implications of the science.
I have spent the past two weeks reading hundreds of reactions to the encyclical. And though the response has been overwhelmingly positive, I have noticed a common theme among the critiques. Pope Francis may be right on the science, we hear, and even on the morality, but he should leave the economics and policy to the experts. They are the ones who know about carbon trading and water privatization, we are told, and how effectively markets can solve any problem.
I forcefully disagree. The truth is that we have arrived at this dangerous place partly because many of those economic experts have failed us badly, wielding their powerful technocratic skills without wisdom. They produced models that placed scandalously little value on human life, particularly on the lives of the poor, and placed outsized value on protecting corporate profits and economic growth.
That warped value system is how we ended up with ineffective carbon markets instead of strong carbon taxes and high fossil fuel royalties. It’s how we ended up with a temperature target of 2 degrees which would allow entire nations to disappear - simply because their GDPs were deemed insufficiently large.
In a world where profit is consistently put before both people and the planet, climate economics has everything to do with ethics and morality. Because if we agree that endangering life on earth is a moral crisis, then it is incumbent on us to act like it.
That doesn’t mean gambling the future on the boom and bust cycles of the market. It means policies that directly regulate how much carbon can be extracted from the earth. It means policies that will get us to 100 per cent renewable energy in 2-3 decades - not by the end of the century. And it means allocating common, shared resources - like the atmosphere - on the basis of justice and equity, not winners-take-all.
That’s why a new kind of climate movement is fast emerging. It is based on the most courageous truth expressed in the encyclical: that our current economic system is both fueling the climate crisis and actively preventing us from taking the necessary actions to avert it. A movement based on the knowledge that if we don’t want runaway climate change, then we need system change.
And because our current system is also fueling ever widening inequality, we have a chance, in rising to the climate challenge, to solve multiple, overlapping crises at once. In short, we can shift to a more stable climate and fairer economy at the same time.
This growing understanding is why you are seeing some surprising and even unlikely alliances. Like, for instance, me at the Vatican. Like trade unions, Indigenous, faith and green groups working more closely together than ever before.
Inside these coalitions, we don’t agree on everything - not by a long shot. But we understand that the stakes are so high, time is so short and the task is so large that we cannot afford to allow those differences to divide us. When 400,000 people marched for climate justice in New York last September, the slogan was “To change everything, we need everyone.”
Everyone includes political leaders, of course. But having attended many meetings with social movements about the COP summit in Paris, I can report this: there is zero tolerance for yet another failure being dressed up as a success for the cameras. Until a week later, when those same politicians are back to drilling for oil in the Arctic and building more highways and pushing new trade deals that make it far more difficult to regulate polluters.
If the deal fails to bring about immediate emission reductions while providing real and substantive support for poor countries, then it will be declared a failure. As it should be.
What we must always remember is that it’s not too late to veer off the dangerous road we are on - the one that is leading us towards 4 degrees of warming. Indeed we could still keep warming below 1.5 degrees if we made it our top collective priority.
It would be difficult, to be sure. As difficult as the rationing and industrial conversions that were once made in wartime. As ambitious as the anti-poverty and public works programs launched in the aftermath of the Great Depression and the Second World War.
But difficult is not the same as impossible. And giving up in the face of a task that could save countless and lives prevent so much suffering - simply because it is difficult, costly and requires sacrifice from those of us who can most afford to make do with less - is not pragmatism.
It is surrender of the most cowardly kind. And there is no cost-benefit analysis in the world that is capable of justifying it.
***
“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”
We have been hearing these supposedly serious-minded words for more than two decades. For the entire lifetime of today’s young climate activists.
And every time another UN summit fails to deliver bold, legally-binding and science-based polices, while sprinkling empty promises of reshuffled aid money, we hear those words again.
“Sure it’s not enough but it’s a step in the right direction.” “We’ll do the harder work next time.” And always: “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”
This, it must be said inside these hallowed walls, is pure nonsense. “Perfect” left the station in the mid-1990s, after the first Rio Earth Summit.
Today, we have only two roads in front of us: difficult yet humane - and easy yet reprehensible.
To our so-called leaders preparing their pledges for COP 21 in Paris, getting out the lipstick and heels to dress up another lousy deal, I have this to say: Read the actual encyclical - not the summaries, the whole thing.
Read it and let it into your hearts. The grief at what we have already lost, and the celebration of what we can still protect and help to thrive.
Listen, too, to the voices of the hundreds of thousands who will be on the streets of Paris outside the summit, gathered simultaneously in cities around the world.
This time, they will be saying more than “we need action.” They will be saying: we are already acting.
We are the solutions: in our demands that institutions divest their holdings from fossil fuel companies and invest them in the activities that will lower emissions.
In our ecological farming methods, which rely less on fossil fuels, provide healthy food and work and sequester carbon.
In our locally-controlled renewable energy projects, which are bringing down emissions, keeping resources in communities, lowering costs and defining access to energy as a right.
In our demand for reliable, affordable and even free public transit, which will get us out of the cars that pollute our cities, congest our lives, and isolate us from one another.
In our uncompromising insistence that you cannot call yourself a climate leader while opening up vast new tracks of ocean and land to oil drilling, gas fracking and coal mining. We have to leave it in the ground.
In our conviction that you cannot call yourself a democracy if you are beholden to multinational polluters.
Around the world, the climate justice movement is saying: See the beautiful world that lies on the other side of courageous policy, the seeds of which are already bearing ample fruit for any who care to look.
Then, stop making the difficult the enemy of the possible.
And join us in making the possible real.
[01143-EN.01] [Original text: English]
Intervento del Prof. Ottmar Edenhofer
Statement 1: The encyclical highlights climate change, poverty and inequality as the key ethical challenges of the 21st century. For this reason, it is inappropriate to reduce the encyclical to an “environmental” or “climate encyclical.”
Statement 2: The encyclical refers to the atmosphere as a common property of humanity, a common good of all and for all.
Statement 3: Pope Francis argues that poverty and the climate change problem can only be solved together – if we fail in one, we fail in the other.
Statement 4: It is mainly the global upper- and middle classes rapidly filling the atmosphere by consuming products which entail vast greenhouse gas emissions, while climate change effects will primarily hit the poor and further exacerbate global inequality.
Statement 5: Carbon Pricing can help to finance Sustainable Development Goals.
Statement 6: The encyclical suggests that the solution to this global crisis lies in international cooperation, action by the nation states and at local, family and individual levels.
Statement 7: The encyclical urges dialogue between science, politics, economics and religion.
***
Qui di seguito l’Intervento integrale del Prof. Ottmar Edenhofer
[01150-EN.01] [Original text: English]
Intervento del Sig. Bernd Nilles
Ladies and gentlemen,
As Secretary General of CIDSE let me express my gratitude for the close collaboration with the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in organizing the international conference “People and Planet First: the Imperative to change course”, which starts tomorrow here in Rome.
As you can already see here today thanks to the presence of Naomi Klein and Prof Edenhofer, this conference as well as the encyclical of the Holy Father, are aiming at uniting people from all parts of society and all faiths. With this conference we want to be a megaphone for the Holy Fathers Encyclical and we want to give key drivers of change as well as those most affected by climate change a voice. Tomorrow the Holy See and CIDSE will welcome 200 Church, political and Civil Society Leaders from all continents to Rome and we look forward to high level speakers like Cardinal Parolin, Cardinal Turkson, Naomi Klein, the Prime Minister of Tuvalu, The environmental minister of Gambia, the United Nations Secretary General Special Envoy for Climate Change – Mary Robinson, the UN rapporteur for Indigenous people and the Director General of the International Agency for Renewable Energies – IRENA.
For those who have not yet encountered CIDSE: CIDSE is the international alliance of Catholic development agencies working together for global justice. CIDSE unites 17 lay led Catholic organisations from Europe and North America, fighting together poverty and inequality. We have worked in close partnership with the Holy See since our foundation. This year we celebrate our 50 year anniversary and are excited that this coincides with the launch of the Pope’s encyclical Laudato Si’.
The encyclical confirms and strengthens the work Catholics do around the world.
a) In our work, we and our partner organisations encounter the effects of climate change and the deep impacts of our current economic system (based on the exploitation of natural resources) in all corners of this planet. And Pope Francis sees these devastating impacts as well.
b) With help of our development work we want to help local communities adapt to climate change. We need to urgently help the affected communities and stop climate change at the same time: we need to adapt and mitigate.
c) People need our solidarity and help but as Pope Francis has taught us, solidarity means addressing today the root causes of the problems. This requires all of us to work harder to see climate change not as an environmental issue but as an expression of a failing economic paradigm which is not serving the vast majority of people and definitely not serving future generations.
This encyclical is not only about Pope Francis as an individual. It is the encyclical of all of us. It documents the reality people are facing, it clearly calls today’s paradigm unjust and states that it is not working for the entire human family, it offers guidance to find alternatives via dialogue and through developing new models of human will being. It clarifies our human relationship to ecology and the social and environmental question as indivisible and mutually dependent. And the encyclical gives hope that we, the human family, can still change. As a collective and as individuals.
All of this documents and confirms the work done by many Catholic and other civil society organisations. The pope explicitly welcomes this work in his encyclical and embraces environmental and social movements. As the Catholic Church we need to further enhance our own action on climate change. An example of our work for climate justice was when CIDSE worked during COP20 in Lima with Bishops from all continents to put together a statement with specific requests for the outcome of the COP21 in Paris. In this statement Bishops called for ambitions to be raised to limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degree Celsius in order to have a better chance of avoiding catastrophic climate impacts for the poorest and most vulnerable communities. The Bishops further support the Pope in his call to end fossil fuels – let’s keep oil, coal and other damaging resources in the ground and stop burning them!
The Bishops together CIDSE have formulated a proposal that I think could be a starting point for the re-thinking of todays’ models of progress and development: Let us not only follow technological innovations – in our experience many of these innovations are false solutions for local communities. When governments praised biofuels as a response to climate change the world food security situation got worse. When industry promotes efficiency –the rebound effects consume the gains in a short time. When governments talk about climate smart agriculture, it’s actually about big agribusiness investments and ignores the needs of local communities. Let us look rather at peoples’ solutions.
That’s why the starting point of any new model, of any new response to climate change, needs to be the local innovations, the peoples’ solutions: any new policy or technical solution requires participation. Development without peoples participation needs to come to an end. In our 50 years of development work every day we see great innovations at local level. Farmers e.g. are innovative, they adapt to climate change every day. Concepts like agro-ecology serve planet and people. But as Pope Francis says, it’s also about power. Those most influential at global and local level hold these solutions back, they hinder them. In the North we still have the majority of government subsidies going into energy, transport and agriculture with high GHG emissions. And in many poor countries in the South more and more local parishes and Bishops report human rights violations and pressure from politicians, business and media: peoples solutions are not always best for profit and question the wealth of a few.
To stop climate change we need to re-think our wealth-model. But we also need to continue at global negotiations where all governments – from Tuvalu to the US and China have one country one vote. That’s why COP21 in Paris at the end of this year is crucial. That’s why Pope Francis made this choice to publish the encyclical NOW.
We echo the Pope’s hope for a fair and binding global agreement on climate change at COP 21 that puts the needs of the world’s poorest at its core. CIDSE has witnessed many international meetings that didn’t put the interests of people at the core. We are working with civil society to have a good outcome from COP 21. We want:
- A fair, ambitious legally binding agreement signed by all Parties (countries).
- Decarbonisation of economies by 2050. An action plan whereby countries reduce their emission to zero for 90% of the GHG emission with technology options available currently and in the future.
- Climate finance: without money on the table, developing countries cannot meet their adaptation needs or transform their economies to stay on a low-carbon pathway. We need to see pledges to the Green Climate Fund and a clear trajectory for countries to meet their share of the USD100bn by 2020. We need an agreement on a public finance goal for adaptation. The role of the private sector has to be more transparent; any money coming in from the private sector should be in addition to the USD100bn. This money should be new and additional to the existing ODA/Aid pledges and flows. In only 2 weeks time governments gather in Addis Ababa for the Summit on Financing for Development – the first litmus test to illustrate the commitment of governments in this important year 2015.
- Equity should be at the heart of any commitments made. Those historically responsible for the emissions , for not only producing, but also for most of the per-capita emissions and consumption, should take on most of the mitigation burden and help developing countries by financing their country-specific needs. Catholic Social Teaching (CST) also puts equity at the heart of everything.
- The most vulnerable people and communities must have a strong voice and role in shaping the agreement. We as faith-based groups have a moral obligation to bring these voices forward and highlight their concerns. These are the communities at the forefront of climate change and its impacts.
- Sufficient adaptation measures will not occur without planning and attention. Climate extremes can result in losses that exceed the capability of people, communities and even countries to manage the risk. Therefore, Parties need to ensure that the Paris climate agreement gives equal priority to mitigation and adaptation, including loss and damage, as outlined in the Bali Action Plan and later the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action. Support for communities that will be displaced and people who have to relocate due to the irreversible effects of climate change should include rights-based relocation, rehabilitation and full re-establishment of communities.
- An emphasis on the role of renewable energy: studies show that it is possible to meet 100% of our energy needs through renewable energies. This means phasing out conventional fuels including coal and phasing out fossil fuel subsidies.
- A commitment to not only focus on greening the energy supply but also to reduce overall consumption and promote ideals of simple living. One billion of the 7 billion people on this planet consume too much to allow all people to live a dignified life! We need to reduce inequality – it can’t be sustainable or just for 80 people to earn more than half the world’s population.
Political decisions are crucial but require all people of goodwill to pressure their governments, to unite to make their voices heard, and to make commitments to change themselves. COP21 in Paris is a milestone opportunity for this. We will provide a final wake up call to ministers and negotiators who will travel to COP21 to resolve the climate change chaos. People of all faith will go on pilgrimage to Paris – some start here in Rome.
On an individual level, CIDSE joins the Pope’s call for simple living and lifestyle changes as acts of love allowing all to contribute to a more sustainable planet. We believe that people should also actively demand change, and they should not be scared of such change since the system as it is now is deeply unjust.
Building on the connection between political and personal responsibility, CIDSE takes the opportunity of this momentum in Church and society to launch TODAY a campaign for sustainable lifestyles and building a global movement for change: “Change for the Planet- Care for the People”.
The campaign links Catholic development work for social justice with the promotion of sustainable living. The global over-exploitation of natural resources puts people and planet at risk, and those suffering most are vulnerable communities and the poor.
Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato si’ states: “Every effort to protect and improve our world entails profound changes in lifestyles, models of production and consumption, and the established structures of power which today govern societies”.
“Change for the Planet - Care for the People”, calls for a radical change in people’s lifestyles towards living simply and making different and more conscious choices. Overconsumption and the overlooking of ethical standards in the production phase and throughout the supply chain creates tolerance and even perpetuates Human Rights violations. People often want to consume fair and sustainable products, but politics and markets do not follow this demand, by putting profit before people’s interests.
Follow the campaign on Facebook and Twitter: @ChangeandCare #Change4Planet
Thank you!
[01144-EN.01] [Original text: English]
Campagna su un nuovo stile di vita sostenibile: “Change for the Planet - Care for the People”
“Change for the Planet - Care for the People”
a new CIDSE sustainable lifestyle campaign launched today
CIDSE, the international alliance of 17 Catholic development organisations from Europe and North America, will today launch (1s July 2015) a three year (2015-2017) campaign on sustainable lifestyles: “Change for the Planet - Care for the People.”
“CIDSE and its members call for policy changes and sustainable lifestyle choices. We believe that collective and individual changes are crucial to respond to the urgency we face through climate change, environmental degradation and the consequence they have on people’s lives.” said Bernd Nilles, CIDSE Secretary General.
The campaign links Catholic development work for social justice with the promotion of sustainable living. The global over-exploitation of natural resources puts people and planet at risk, and those suffering most are vulnerable communities and the poor. Furthermore, ethical standards being overlooked in the production phase and throughout the supply chain creates a situation which is tolerant and creates further human rights violations. People often want to consume fair and sustainable products, but politics and markets do not follow this demand, by puttingprofit before people’s interest.
Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato si’, states: “Every effort to protect and improve our world entails profound changes in lifestyles, models of production and consumption, and the established structures of power which today govern societies”. This campaign aims at contributing to these changes. As Pope Francis affirms, we are convinced that “a change in lifestyle could bring healthy pressure to bear on those who wield political, economic and social power”.
“Change for the Planet - Care for the People” therefore calls for a radical change in people’s lifestyles towards living simply and making different and more conscious choices. This campaign will focus over the next three years on energy and food consumption, by calling for better policies as well as on everybody to do their share. Through social media activities, workshops and events we will invite people to make a difference through their daily choices, and to contribute this way to building a better world: cut the amount of the energy you use, buy local and sustainably produced food, place priority on taking public transport, and eat less meat- are examples of daily practices that count. Several successful models of sustainable living all around the world already exist, and our campaign will also be a platform for them to resonate and be tried out by other people. The campaign will further connect people and mobilise the Catholic movement.
In 2015 we especially look to the UN Climate summit in Paris – COP21 (30 November – 12 December) as the key political opportunity to call for a fair global deal for people and planet. Central to this is phasing out fossil fuels and phasing in 100% renewables with sustainable energy access for all. We want to show people’s power to bring about the change we call for, and which policy makers are not delivering. We join our voice with the voices of thousands of people that will mobilise before and during COP21 in Paris and all around the world calling for new models of well-being and development in order to prevent further climate change and to promote justice.
[01149-EN.01] [Original text: English]
Scheda Informativa sulla CIDSE
CIDSE is an international alliance of Catholic development agencies working together for global justice. Our 17 member organisations come together under the umbrella of CIDSE to fight poverty and inequality. We challenge governments, business, churches, and international bodies to adopt policies and behaviors that promote human rights, social justice and sustainable development. These are important elements of our mission, which we try to achieve through joint advocacy, campaigning and development cooperation work. We work with people of all faiths and none.
Central to our policy formulation and advocacy is our member organisations’ work on a wide range of priorities, with local partner organisations in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It is the voices of our partners in the South which we intend to make heard at key events at European, North American and international level. Our priority issues are development finance, food, climate justice, business & human rights, and rethinking development. As a lay-led Catholic network, webelieve in a worldwith peaceful and fair foundations where the lives and choices of rich and poor alike are transformed through solidarity.
Our History
2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the creation of CIDSE. The idea of CIDSE was born in 1964 and solidified the following year on the 18th of November 1965 when seven founding members created CIDSE. CIDSE was founded to coordinate tasks identified by the Second Vatican Council as important for the Catholic Church, namely, to care for the poor and the oppressed and to work towards justice on a global level. Today, our 17 member organisations work in over 118 countries and territories worldwide.
Our Members
• Broederlijk Delen- Belgium (www.broederlijkdelen.be)
•CAFOD– England and Wales (www.cafod.org.uk)
•CCFD-Terre Solidaire– France (www.ccfd-terresolidaire.org)
•Center of Concern– USA (www.coc.org)
•Cordaid– The Netherlands (www.cordaid.nl)
•Development & Peace– Canada (www.devp.org)
•Entraide et Fraternité– Belgium (www.entraide.be)
•eRko– Slovakia (http://en.erko.sk)
•Fastenopfer– Switzerland (www.fastenopfer.ch)
•FEC– Portugal (www.fecongd.org)
•FOCSIV– Italy (www.focsiv.it)
•Fondation Bridderlech Deelen– Luxembourg (www.bridderlechdeelen.lu)
•KOO– Austria (www.koo.at)
•Manos Unidas– Spain (www.manosunidas.org)
•MISEREOR– Germany (www.misereor.de)
•SCIAF– Scotland (www.sciaf.org.uk )
• Trócaire– Ireland (www.trocaire.org)
[01147-EN.01] [Original text: English]
[B0525-XX.01]
