As we continue to seek to act as good stewards of God’s creation, and as people who care about the poor and needy in the world, it is important to note the content of a speech given by Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Mr. de Boer highlighted the impact of climate change on the poor in his opening speech at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The IPCC will soon issue an updated report. It will say that warming has progressed faster than previously predicted.
"The IPCC already has established that the climate has begun to change because of the greenhouse gases emitted by humans, said de Boer, director of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Everyone will feel its effects, but global warming will hit the poorest countries hardest and will "threaten the very survival" of some people, he said. "Failing to recognize the urgency of this message and act on it would be nothing less that criminally irresponsible" and a direct attack on the world's poorest people, De Boer said.""
(quoted in the Washington Post)
