SECAM: Bishops in Africa Call on Governments to take Urgent Actions of Protection of Biodiversity
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
In preparation for the upcoming United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) scheduled for late this year in China, Catholic bishops in Africa have raised concern warning governments to act speedily in protection of biodiversity.
“We have no such right to destroy biodiversity,” members of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) said in the statement read by Fr. Rigobert Minani Bihuzo the regional coordinator of the Ecclesial Network of the Congo Basin Forest (REBAC) during a hybrid event held in Kenya’s capital Nairobi where preparatory sessions towards COP15 were being conducted.
In the statement published online, the Church leaders join the global Civil Society’s calls advocating for no more biodiversity collapse as they ask the nations to “commit to protecting half of the Earth, (50%) by 2030, to avoid the worst effects of the dangerous climate crisis” ahead of COP15 and UN Climate Change Conference (COP27).
They further called on governments especially of the Global North, whom they disclosed as the “biggest emitters of greenhouse gasses, to deliver on their financial commitments to halt biodiversity loss, ensure accountability and transparency and help create a safe and resilient world.”
In their massage dated Tuesday, June 21, and signed by the First Vice President of SECAM Bishop Sithembele Sipuka of Mthatha, South Africa, the bishops of Africa and the surrounding Island asked for “protection of the rights of first nations and inclusion within the biodiversity and climate discourse.”
“Indigenous communities are some of the first to experience the adverse effects of the climate crisis due to their close relationship with the environment and their long-practiced roles as guardians of God’s creation,” reads an excerpt of the message as it continues, “However, these communities are often dismissed because they are believed to represent just a tiny fraction of the world’s population.”
In their Tuesday message, the Church leaders shared about the biomass of the Congo basin which is the second-largest tropical rainforest in the world noting that it is “Incredibly rich with diverse ecosystem that provides food, fresh water, shelter, and medicine for millions of local and indigenous peoples and is home to critically endangered wildlife species.”
Amidst the benefits from the Congo basin forest, the bishops underscore the threats realized from a variety of fronts driven by human activity.
One of the risks is land grabbing and industrial agriculture. According to the prelates it is regrettable that “in recent years, investors worldwide focused on exploiting Africa’s rich natural goods, often at the expense of local communities and the environment.”
“The magnitude of exploitation has seen the loss of vital ecosystems while international industrial-scale agricultural developers have helped fuel wide-scale deforestation and spark social conflict,” they said.
Additionally, unsustainable and illegal logging by both big and small companies is “leading to deforestation, destruction of wildlife habitat, diminished resilience to the climate crisis, and damage to local communities,” the prelates lamented.
They continued, “We have seen undue pressure on Earth’s goods that increase tension and fosters conflicts. In the Congo forest alone, dozens have died and there have been several documented human and environmental rights abuses in the region… leading to conflict.”
In raising their concerns Church leaders reveal that “Congo biome not only contributes to the Earth’s health but works together with other biomes like Amazon to support the equilibrium of our sister, mother earth.”
“We know that destroying even a quarter of our remaining untouched lands or polluting the oceans would remove the critical necessary carbon sink that is without any cost to society helping us avert the worst effects of a runaway climate crisis,” reads part of the statement.
The bishops further called on all people that, in the spirit of faith and strengthened by Church’s teaching, they must all play their “individual roles in protecting our home and be committed to growing in solidarity, communion, and friendship.”
The webinar was organized by SECAM, REBAC and Laudato Si’ Movement (LSM) who serves the Catholic Family around the world to turn Pope Francis’ encyclical letter Laudato Si’ into action for climate and ecological justice.
