FORUM ON FAITH AND SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY THE ETHICS OF CLIMATE CHANGE GRAHAM SAUL CLIMATE ACTION NETWORK CANADA RESEAU ACTION CLIMAT CANADA

Melting is faster than we thought

River Deltas Most Vulnerable to Sea Level Rise

136 PORT CITIES around the World have more than 1 Million Inhabitants (2005)

Nile Delta 2000 Port Said Alexandria Alexandria – about 4 million people Port Said – about 500,000

Nile Delta 1m Sea Level Rise Port Said Alexandria

Tropical Cyclone Sidr moves towards the coast of Western Bangladesh November 14, 2007 8.5 million people affected 500,000 houses completely destroyed 900,000 houses partially destroyed 40,000 people injured 3,000 people dead Tropical Cyclone Sidr moves towards the Bangladesh coast, 14 November 2007. 8.5 million people affected. 500, 000 houses completely destroyed 900,000 houses partially destroyed 40,000 people injured 3,000 people dead The coast of western Bangladesh, the most densely populated low-lying area in the world, has seen some of the worst human disasters of recent decades. Cyclone Sidr claimed the lives of some 3,000 people, yet many hundreds of thousands more were evacuated to safety. From Oxfam’s Right to Survive Report. NASA

World Energy Outlook “The projected rise in emissions of greenhouse gases in the Reference Scenario puts us on a course of doubling the concentration of those gases in the atmosphere by the end of this century, entailing an eventual global average temperature increase of up to 6 degrees Celsius.” World Energy Outlook, 2008 (page 11)

Golden Frog:

White Possum – 2008: First Mammal to become extinct due to climate change SCIENTISTS say a white possum native to Queensland's Daintree forest has become the first mammal to become extinct due to man-made global warming. The white lemuroid possum, a rare creature found only above 1000m in the mountain forests of far north Queensland, has not been seen for three years. Experts fear climate change is to blame for the disappearance of the highly vulnerable species thanks to a temperature rise of up to 0.8C.

Climate Justice: 1. The Extinction Crisis Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change: Fourth Assessment Report "There is medium confidence that approximately 20-30% of species assessed so far are likely to be at increased risk of extinction if increases in global average warming exceed 1.5-2.5°C (relative to 1980-1999). As global average temperature increase exceeds about 3.5°C, model projections suggest significant extinctions (40-70% of species assessed) around the globe.“ Over One Million Species Face Extinction at 3.5 degrees Surprisingly, scientists have a better understanding of how many stars there are in the galaxy than how many species there are on Earth. Estimates of global species diversity have varied from 2 million to 100 million species, with a best estimate of somewhere near 10 million, and only 1.4 million have actually been named. The problems stemming from the limits of current knowledge of species diversity are compounded by the lack of a central database or list of the world's species. “And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” (Gen. 1,31)

Climate Justice: 2. Global Environmental Justice

Canadian GHG Emissions – 1990 to 2007 http://www.ec.gc.ca/pdb/GHG/inventory_report/2008_trends/trends_eng.cfm

CO2 Emissions Per Capita (2002) http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/national_carbon_dioxide_co2_emissions_per_capita

The principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and respective capabilities Rich countries like Canada have contributed disproportionately to the problem, they continue to produce more emission per person, and they have more capacity to deal with the problem because they have more resources.

Climate Justice: 3. Intergenerational Justice

Thank you Graham Saul Climate Action Network Canada