CNS STORY: In coastal areas, Catholic leaders see challenges as climate changes

CLIMATE-COASTLINES Oct-7-2009 (1,040 words) With photos. xxxi

In coastal areas, Catholic leaders see challenges as climate changes

By Ezra Fieser
Catholic News Service

CHIQUIMULILLA, Guatemala (CNS) -- Hurricane Stan swept through the village of El Dormido on Guatemala's Pacific Coast four years ago, destroying homes, a school and a church.

Father Raul Monterroso remembers urging residents to move to higher ground to avoid the damage of another serious storm. In the years since, no hurricanes have passed through, but the 27 families left in the fishing village are worse off.

"They're isolated by the rising sea levels on one side and the river on the other side that now floods during the storms," Father Monterroso said. "This is a fishing community, so they don't want to leave because it's their livelihood. But if things continue like this, they will have to."

Around the world, climate change is taking a toll on coastal communities. Rising sea levels, more frequent storms and the erosion of coastlines threaten villages, towns and cities. Their economies -- largely based on jobs like fishing related to their proximity to the water -- have been damaged. And their futures are in question.

The most recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- a scientific body sponsored by the U.N. and the World Meteorological Organization -- laid out a grave future for low-lying areas. Sea levels will continue to rise, by as much as 18 inches in some areas by 2100, and the ocean waters will become warmer, triggering more nasty storms.

"Increased flooding and the degradation of freshwater fisheries and other resources could impact hundreds of millions of people, and socio-economic costs on coasts will escalate as a result of climate change," the report concluded.

As world leaders prepare to gather in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December for the U.N. Climate Change Conference, the plight of coastal communities will be a major issue. Catholic leaders, particularly from developing countries hit hard by global warming, will be seeking a financial commitment from wealthier countries to help them adapt.

Catholic leaders and climate change experts recently estimated that developing countries will need roughly $160 billion annually by 2020 to adapt to climate change and to mitigate its effects.

"We know that it's a serious amount of money, but we think it's a real question of political will on this issue," said Roeland Scholtalbers, spokesman for CIDSE, a Belgium-based alliance of Catholic development agencies, which co-sponsored a September meeting on climate. "It's an opportunity for the world to go for a better future for some of the world's poorest people because they are the ones most vulnerable to the effects of climate change."

More than 10,000 miles from Guatemala's battered coastline, millions have already fled threatened communities in Bangladesh, said Auxiliary Bishop Theotonius Gomes of Dhaka, president of Caritas Bangladesh, that country's Catholic charitable agency.

"These are very poor people that have no other option. They end up going from their homes in rural areas to the urban areas, where they find other problems," he told Catholic News Service. "They are suffering from rising sea levels as well as more storms, more cyclones that are destroying land."

In recent years, Bangladesh has faced longer periods of drought and more storms that bring flooding. In the Bay of Bengal occurrences of meteorological depressions, which cause floods and cyclones, have increased from an average of 50 to 62 times a year to 70 to 80 in recent years, Bishop Gomes said.

In response, Caritas has helped farmers begin to grow vegetables in water and set up crab farms to help them earn an extra source of income. But helping those communities adapt is a financial drain.

"I think Copenhagen is time for a real decision on how wealthier countries will help fund solutions," said Bishop Gomes, who will be speaking at the climate change conference. "I think a strong financial commitment from wealthier countries to fund the adaptation of poorer countries is appropriate."

Bishop Gomes said he fears that as global warming continues fewer options will exist for citizens.

"The NASA (Goddard) Institute for Space Studies predicts 'Bangladesh's entire 144 million population will become environmental refugees by the end of the century because its entire landmass is to go under water,'" he said. "That's very distressing."

While distressing, it's also an increasingly real prediction for communities around the world. In southern Louisiana, Robert Gorman, director of Catholic Charities of Houma-Thibodaux, said the near-sea-level communities in the area are already affected by climate change.

"It's hard not to take notice of the changes when you have a foot or two of mud in your home every year," Gorman said. "And if you're in a community near sea level in any place around the world, no matter where you are, the problems are the same."

In addition to advocating for funding to help people address those problems, Catholics have also launched a movement to encourage U.S. Catholics to change their habits, said Dan Misleh, executive director of the Washington-based Catholic Coalition on Climate Change.

The coalition works with Catholic agencies to urge people to cut their energy use, recycle and educate others about the importance of climate change.

"I think what people are starting to understand is that those floods, hurricanes and storms that they're seeing on television are likely to accelerate" due to climate change, he said. "And as a result, I think there is a commitment by the Catholic community to address our behaviors to help protect God's creation."

A U.S. Senate vote is expected on a climate change bill later this year, and Misleh said the U.S. should take the lead in dedicating funds to needy countries.

The United States "designates less than $1 billion for international adaptation. That's not nearly enough," he said. "The U.S. is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gases. It has to show some leadership."

The bill's future in the Senate is still in question, but Catholic leaders believe a strong commitment by the U.S. could set the stage for a historic agreement in Copenhagen this year.

"What we know is that these are serious changes that are happening to people around the world and are likely to worsen," Scholtalbers said. "I think if we come out of Copenhagen 2009 with a weak agreement, history will not look back on it favorably."

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