African churches urge industrialized nations to remedy emissions debt

Published: 2006-11-09

NAIROBI, Kenya (CNS) -- A coalition of African Catholic and Protestant churches attending a U.N. conference on climate change urged industrialized nations to compensate poor nations for carbon emissions. Describing industrialized countries as "environmental debtors" to the poorer countries, the churches said that to restore balance urgent action is needed on the part of industrialized countries. The Nov. 6-17 U.N. conference was working to expand the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, a binding international environmental pact to cut greenhouse gases. In a message to conference delegates, the churches said only a finite global budget for carbon emissions exists and that it must be distributed equitably among citizens and countries. The churches said industrialized countries must stabilize global carbon emissions by significantly reducing those emissions to bring the climate budget under control. Individual companies and governments must share in this responsibility, they added.

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