FABC holding South East Asia climate change meeting ‎

Climate change is the theme of a two-day South East Asian regional meeting starting on Thursday ‎in the Philippine capital, Manila, organized by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC).   ‎The July 2-3 meeting at the Pope Pius XII Pastoral Center, Manila, is being organized by the Climate ‎Change Desk (CCD) and the Office of Human Development (OHD) of FABC in cooperation with ‎Misereor.  Representatives from the Indonesian and the Philippines Episcopal commissions for Justice ‎and Peace/Development and those who are involved in the mitigation and adaptation of climate change ‎measures are taking part in the meeting, which will also include discussions on Pope Francis’ encyclical ‎‎‘Laudato Si” on ecology. The Manila seminar aims to promote a collective Asian Church's response on ‎climate change and to establish a Climate Change Desk in every Episcopal Conference in Asia.  ‎

The FABC is one of the signatories to the Continental Bishops' statement on Climate Change presented ‎to the 20th Conference of Parties (COP20) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate ‎Change (UNFCCC), held in Lima, Peru, in December last year.  The continental gathering of bishops ‎was organized by the Peruvian Bishops' Conference in Lima on December 5, 2014 to join the effort of ‎world leaders (COP 20) gathered for the signing of a legally binding climate agreement in Paris in 2015. ‎FABC was represented by Bishop Theotonius Gomes, auxiliary bishop of Dhaka (Emeritus), ‎Bangladesh. Bishop Gomes also delivered the Message of the Interfaith Summit on Climate Change to ‎the assembly.‎  (Source: FABC)