Pope warns of consumer threat to climate, COVID

(ANSA) - VATICAN CITY, SEP 1 - Pope Francis on Tuesday warned of the threat to the climate and the COVID emergency from the "avidity" of consumerism, in a message on today's World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.
    "Today the voice of creation urges us, alarmed, to return to the right place in the natural order, to remember that we are part and not masters of the interconnected network of life," Francis said.
    "The disintegration of biodiversity, the vertiginous increase in climate disasters, the unequal impact of the ongoing pandemic on the poorest and most fragile are alarm bells in the face of the relentless avidity of consumerism".
    The pope urged all nations to respect climate change accords and reduce emissions.
    "Everything possible must be done to limit the growth in average global temperature to below the threshold of 1.5 degrees centigrade, as is laid down in the Paris Climate Accord," he said.
    "Going beyond that will prove to be catastrophic, above all for the poorest communities all over the world".
    "In this critical moment it is necessary to promote intra-generational and inter-generational solidarity.
    "In preparation for the important Summit on Climate in Glasgow, in the United Kingdom (COP 26), I urge each country to adopt more ambitious national targets to reduce emissions".
    The pope added: "I renew my appeal to cancel the debt of the most fragile countries in light of the grave impacts of the health, social and economic crises they must face following COVOD-19".
    "We must also ensure that the incentives for recovery, in the process of elaboration and implementation at a global, regional and national level, are actually effective, with policies, legislations and investments focused on the common good and with the guarantee that global social and environmental objectives re met". (ANSA).