The pontiff sent a message to the world to mark World Environment Day. Pope stressed that humankind has little time left to become a generation of renaissance, which is able to restore the nature it has spoiled.
World Environment Day annually reminds people that ecology is an integral part of life, regardless of religion. Humankind should establish harmony within mother nature and with God.
Pope Francis issued a strong warning in his message to Inger Andersen, United Nations program for the environment (UNEP) executive director and to Qn Dongy, director general of FAO on the occasion of today’s World Environment Day.
“We have little time left – writes Francis – scientists say the next ten years, the span of this UN Decade – to restore the ecosystem, which will mean the integral restoration of our relation with nature.”
In 2021, after a year of the pandemic, people of a good will have a special significance. This decade invites us to make ten-year commitments aimed at caring for our common home by «supporting and scaling up efforts to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide and raise awareness of the importance of successful ecosystem restoration.”
“We need to take care of each other, and of the weakest among us. Continuing down this path of exploitation and destruction – of humans, and of nature – is unjust and unwise. This is what a responsible conscience would tell us. We have a responsibility to leave a habitable common home for our children and for future generations,” pontiff said.
Hence the hope that the COP26 on climate change, to be held in Glasgow next November, will offer the right answers. Another important front on which to intervene is precisely that of economic systems. We need a review of the current development model, emphasizing the key point that “the degradation of the ecosystem is a clear result of an economic dysfunction”.
Despite the concern, however, there is hope. Technology can be directed towards healthier progress.
