Youth, faith key to environmental protection

The United Nations Environment Programme has expressed its commitment to work with youth, faith leaders and faith-based organizations from across the world to achieve the goals set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Joyce Msuya, the deputy executive director of UNEP, said they have launched these partnerships to facilitate their efforts finding a more sustainable path.

The first was the Faith for Earth Initiative, launched in 2017, which has so far built a network of more than 750 faith-based organizations to harness the power of faith on behalf of the planet.

Also launched in the same year was the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative, with a mission to bring moral urgency and faith-based leadership to end the destruction of the tropical forests.

"I am hopeful, but I am also a realist. And I know we need to show more ambition in our work to heal our ailing planet. I find hope in the young women and men around the world who are drawing on both faith and science to campaign for change and to raise awareness about how to live more sustainably," she said.

Msuya made these remarks on Monday at the opening ceremony of the 2nd International Conference on Laudato Si, held in Nairobi, Kenya. She challenged young people to speak up and show their leadership. "We need your energy, your passion and your ideas," she said.

Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, said it's noteworthy youth mobilizations have acquired unprecedented strength since the "Climate Strikes" were ignited by the 15-year-old activist Greta Thunberg last August, with millions of students participating in the last two "Global Climate Strikes".

Turkson said the pressure by the student mobilizations is being noticed by politicians, who are the ultimate decision-makers and need to show the political courage to fully implement the Paris Agreement.

"I am encouraged about the participation of young Catholics in these mobilizations, given the urgency of the situation," he said.

Turkson urged the youth to carry on their commendable efforts through the Laudato Si generation and beyond, building networks of solidarity both inside the church and with the larger civil society movement to care for the planet.