Sustainability of Nature and the Mission of the Church Dr. Cherian Samuel, McLean, Virginia Introduction. This essay explores the relationship between Sustainable Development—covering economic, social and environmental sustainability aspects—and the Mission of the Church. The discussion is anchored in the divine mandate to humanity as stewards of creation and its implications for sustainability. The essay is divided into two sections. The first section outlines issues related to Sustainable Development, Climate Change, Sustainable Development Goals, and the Mission of the Church. The second section explores the relationship between Sustainable Development and the Mission of the Church, and concludes the essay. Sustainable Development. The 1987 Brundtland Reportviii defined sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The Report characterized sustainable development as a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development, and institutional change are made consistent with future as well as present needs. Sustainable development requires meeting the basic needs of all and extending to all the opportunity to satisfy their aspirations for a better life. Sustainable development was subsequently adopted as an overarching objective by Governments at the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, more commonly known as the “Earth Summit”. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Developmentix— adopted by all UN Member States in September 2015— provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) x, an urgent call for action by all countries, recognizing that ending poverty and other deprivations must go along with strategies to improve health and education, reduce inequality and promote economic growth, while tackling the challenge of climate change to preserve the planetxi. Climate Change. Among the 17 SDGs, Goal#13 on Climate Change is perhaps the most urgent, given the existential threat posed to the planet and humanity. There is a symbiotic
relationship between Sustainable Development and Climate Change. On the one hand, Climate Change influences key natural and human living conditions and therefore Sustainable Development. On the other hand, society’s priorities on Sustainable Development influence both the Green House Gas (GHG) emissions that are causing Climate Change and the vulnerability. As a result, the adverse impacts of Climate Change are undermining the ability of countries to attain Sustainable Development. Poor and developing countries, particularly the least developed countries (LDCs), are among those most adversely affected and least able to cope with climate change related shocks to social, economic and natural systems. Increases in global temperature, sea level rise, ocean acidification and other climate change impacts are seriously affecting coastal areas and low-lying coastal countries, including many LDCs and Small Island Developing States (SIDS). According to the World Bankxii, no country today is immune from the impacts of climate change. There is an unmistakable link between climate change and its impact on human wellbeing and poverty. If unchecked, climate change will push 132 million people into poverty over the next 10 years, nullifying hard-won development gains. Annually, natural disasters cost about $18 billion in lowand middle-income countries through damages to power generation and transport infrastructure alone. They also trigger wider disruptions for households and firms costing at least $390 billion a year. Climate change could also drive 216 million people to migrate within their own countries by 2050, with hotspots of internal migration emerging as soon as 2030, spreading and intensifying thereafter. The international political response to Climate Change started at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, where the ‘Rio Convention’ included the adoption of the UN Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC)xiii. In December 2015, the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) convened in Paris, France, and adopted the Paris Agreement, a universal agreement which aims to keep a global temperature rise for this century well below 2 degrees Celsius, with the goal of driving efforts to limit the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial revolution levelsxiv. While climate change mitigationxv is the solution to address the climate change challenge, adaptationxvi is an immediate and win–win action to increase resilience and reduce climate-related impacts and risksxvii.
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