ECCLESIA IN ASIA RAOEN, the voice of the Churches of Asia and Oceania in defense of creation

It is a network of experiences whose objective is to raise awareness of the bond that unites the two continents in the environmental challenge. The message for the COP27 that opens today in Sharm el Sheik: “The negotiations between the governments failed; listen to the cry of the local communities”.

Bangkok () – The environmental issue is one of the great current challenges for Asia. It is the central theme of the encyclical praise yesand had a prominent place in the General Conference of the Catholic Churches of this continent, which closed last Sunday in Bangkok. Many regions of Asia are already beginning to suffer the serious effects of climate change. A few weeks ago, an unprecedented catastrophe occurred: the floods in Pakistan, which simultaneously affected millions of people and left more than 2,000 dead. But that event – the result of a devastating mix created by exceptional rainfall and the melting of glaciers due to high temperatures – was only the most visible. Climate change also sows desolation in a hidden way, through drought and famine. Not to mention the race for the exploitation of raw materials, which in Asia is also destroying forests and disrupting the lives of many tribal communities.

For all these reasons, during the meeting of bishops in Bangkok, he presented his experience River Above Asia and Oceania Ecclesial Network (RAOEN) an ecclesial network organized in recent years by some realities of the two continents that look to the Pacific Ocean. The model has been taken from the experience of REPAM – Pan-America Ecclesial Network of Latin America – with which this organization collaborates in a large network that today also includes the Ecclesial Network of the Congo Basin (REBAC) in Africa and the Ecclesial Network Mesoamerican Ecology (REMAM).

Why Asia and Oceania together? “Because Asia’s climate depends on the Pacific Ocean and understanding it is part of the challenge,” answers Jesuit Father Pedro Walpole. The priest, of Irish origin, has been assisting the indigenous communities of Bukidnon, in the mountains of the island of Mindanao, in the southern Philippines, for many years. “Polluting activities are the source of the problem, but these agents quickly end up in the atmosphere and from there in the oceans. The Pacific Ocean covers a third of the world and is undergoing the greatest transformation in terms of temperatures. And the extreme events that we are living in Asia come from there.

This view also constitutes an ecclesial challenge: “We must understand that we are linked to the peoples who live in Oceania, that we are part of a common path”, continues Fr. Walpole. Although in numerical terms they are few, the problems they face are greater. We must support their cry when we see that the sea level rises in their islands, when they denounce the loss of their cultures because they are forced to move to another part of the continent. The great peoples of Asia must also support them. After all, the Philippines may not be part of Oceania politically, but that’s where the typhoons that devastate our country come from.”

COP27, the UN conference on climate change, opens today in Sharm el Sheik, but expectations are not encouraging at all. Today, that path is no longer adequate because it does not include social realities, it is only negotiations between governments”, comments the RAOEN coordinator. “And what kind of negotiations can we expect in Egypt, where one cannot even manifest outside the conference venue? Last year, [la conferencia de] Glasgow had no impact. The commitment to reduce coal mining disappeared with the war in Ukraine.”

It must be said that the great Asian giants also have their share of responsibility in this. “China contributes 30% to the extraction of coal. However, when it is criticized, it must be countered by saying that the West has benefited from it for centuries. How can a balance be reached?” asks Father Walpole , and points to a crucial knot: “Human rights are an essential part of this process. However, in the current negotiations this issue is left out, and the issue is reduced to power relations. But how many more catastrophes do we need to give us Realize how essential the role of small local communities is in safeguarding creation? We must return to the idea of ​​caring, and that is what we must remember as a Church. We must give up the idea that only technological solutions they will be able to solve the environmental crisis, without taking on the injustice and imbalances in the distribution of wealth. We need responses that put people at the center.”

Father Walpole cites a very concrete example “Let’s stop planting tens of thousands of trees. Instead, let’s support those who can really take care of them and make them grow: the agricultural populations. Let’s support these communities for 25 years so that they can take care of the land , instead of destroying it with mining or chemical fertilizers. Let’s make them participate in recreating the balance of natural forests. Let’s give up illusions: a few years ago a middle class family spent 50% of their income on food, now it is 40%. But these prices – which are made low to stimulate the purchase of other consumer goods – are the result of systems that separate people from the processes of agricultural production” and this situation worsens day by day “With a cost, which we all pay later: the consequences on the environment”.

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