A Vatican-appointed panel of scientists has reported what climate
change experts have been warning for years: the Earth is getting warmer,
glaciers are melting, and urgent measures are necessary to stem the
damage.
The scientists called for urgent reduction of carbon
dioxide emissions and reductions in methane and other pollutants that
warm the air, and for improved observation of mountain glaciers to
better track their changes.
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, a
Vatican advisory panel, hosted a conference last month on the causes and
consequences of retreating mountain glaciers. Its final report, dated
May 5 and signed by independent glaciologists, climate scientists,
meteorologists and chemists, was posted on the Vatican website Tuesday.
"We
appeal to all nations to develop and implement, without delay,
effective and fair policies to reduce the causes and impacts of climate
change on communities and ecosystems, including mountain glaciers and
their watersheds, aware that we all live in the same home," the report
said.
"We are committed to ensuring that all inhabitants of this
planet receive their daily bread, fresh air to breathe and clean water
to drink as we are aware that, if we want justice and peace, we must
protect the habitat that sustains us."
The Vatican spokesman, Rev.
Federico Lombardi, said the document was "important" but is not a piece
of the church's key teachings and merely reflects the conclusions of
the independent scientists involved.
That said, he noted that it
was a "significant scientific contribution" to the concerns that Pope
Benedict XVI has voiced in both his encyclicals and public statements.
Benedict
has been dubbed the "green pope" for his environmental concerns: In
2008, the Vatican installed photovoltaic cells on the roof of its main
auditorium. A year later it installed a solar cooling unit for its main
cafeteria.
The Vatican has also joined a reforestation project
aimed at
offsetting its CO2 emissions.
Brenda Ekwurzel, the assistant
director of climate research and analysis at the Union of Concerned
Scientists, a Cambridge, Massachusettss-based think tank, said the
report was a "straightforward recap of major known findings about
glaciers," that was penned by high-caliber scientists.
She highlighted
one significant point in the report's title and throughout; it refers to
the new geologic "era" of human modification of the world, known as
"Anthropocene."
"Perhaps the reality that the Vatican recognizes
this fact, as the report indicates, is worth mentioning to those who
remain unconvinced of human-induced climate change," Ekwurzel said in an
email.