The road to COP 15, a Laudato Si’ biological diversity webinar
“When biodiversity flourishes, human life flourishes” is the call to action of leaders of universities, scientific research and ecclesial bodies who sense that humanity is at an inflection point, with life-altering consequences, and a responsibility to act.
The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development is organizing a webinar on biological diversity, The Road to COP15 on 20 April, with Cardinal Peter K.A. Turkson, Prefect, Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, and Dr Jane Goodall Ethologist, Jane Goodall Institute, as keynote speakers:
Three interconnected global crises today (covid, climate, and biodiversity) call for a change in direction “towards a regenerative civilization with an integral ecological story and pattern of life.”
In the fifth edition of the UN Global Biodiversity Outlook Report released in September 2020 and published by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the importance of biodiversity in addressing climate change and long-term food security was noted and concludes that action to protect biodiversity is essential to prevent future pandemics.
This 2020 report study is considered to be particularly significant, because it serves as a “final report card” for the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, a series of 20 objectives set out in 2010 at the beginning of the UN’s Decade on Biodiversity. None of the targets, which concern the safeguarding of ecosystems and the promotion of sustainability, were fully met, and only six are deemed to be “partially achieved.”
The 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the CBD will be held in Kunming, China from 11 to 24 October 2021.
It is time to amplify Pope Francis’ teachings in Laudato Si’ to co-create life-giving relationships with creation and inspire thousands of people to do the same. The outputs from this roundtable public webinar and related efforts in education and advocacy are a contribution to the regeneration of healthy ecosystems on Earth.
Supporting this Dicastery initiative on biodiversity are the Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM), Red Eclesial Pan-Amazónica (REPAM), Reseau Ecclesial du Bassin du Congo (REBAC), River above Asia and Oceania Ecclesial Network (RAOEN), Coopération Internationale pour le Développement et la Solidarité (CIDSE), Catholic Youth Network for Environmental Sustainability in Africa (CYNESA), ISVUMI, Columban Missionaries, LISTEN, Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, Unione Internationale delle Superiore Generali (UISG), and Parliament of the World’s Religions (PoWR).
The Road to COP15 webinar will take place on 20 April 2021 at 12:00 pm (Rome), 6:00 am (Washington DC/New York), and 8:00 pm (Sydney).