Climate justice for Mother Earth

By Delia Chatoor

By its Resolution 63/278 of 2009, the United Nations General Assembly designated April 22 as International Mother Earth Day. Concerns on the debilitating effects humankind was having on the environment has existed for centuries, but the most recent manifestation of such realisation began in 1970. Since then, the critical issue requiring environmental protection and a greater awareness to care for Mother Earth has emerged even more so.

Holy Scripture provides many references to elements of creation, beginning with Chapters 1 and 2 of the Book of Genesis. When God brought forth man in the Garden of Eden, He issued the injunction that man must “cultivate and take care of it” (Gen 2:15–16). In other words, humans were meant to be stewards of all created things and not owners.

In 55:12, the prophet Isaiah expressed his joy with nature so much so that he personified the mountains, hills, and trees when he wrote:

“Mountains and hills will break into joyful cries before you

and all the trees of the countryside clap their hands.”

We are all too familiar with reports touching on the variety of challenges facing planet Earth which range from climate change, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, depletion of marine life, and natural resources, as well as air and water pollution. Armed conflicts have also destroyed valuable ecosystems.

Even as there is the call for collective and international collaboration to save Mother Earth, scientists continue to warn that there must be decisive and entrenched policies to limit the use of fossil fuels globally. Renewed sources of energy must play an important part in the preservation of our Common Home. Green technology with linkages to more eco-friendly industries have, therefore, been advocated as viable tools for a more sustainable future.

On the occasion of the United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties (COP30) held in Brazil from November 10–21, 2025, the Bishops of the Catholic Church in the Global South issued a critical message with the title: A Call for Climate Justice and the Common Home: Ecological Conversion, Transformation and Resistance to False Solutions in which they articulated the views of many that the “climate crisis is an urgent reality, with an ecological conversion needed to address global warming….”

The results of the persistent reckless actions by States, international corporations and individuals are visible daily and have been recognised by Pope Leo XIV when he advocated for an examination of an “economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalises the poorest.”

The latest figures calculated by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) noted that resources directed to military expenditure totalled approximately US $2.63 trillion in 2025. This compares to approximately US $1.3 trillion based on 2023–2024 figures to climate financing. In its May 2025 paper: How increasing global military expenditure threatens Sustainable Development Goal 13, the Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS) observed that “increases in military expenditure threaten national mitigation targets in both direct and indirect ways. Because militaries and their supply chains are major fossil fuel users, rising military spending leads to direct increases in military Green House Gas (GHG) emissions.”

At the same time, research has shown that funds available to address environmental threats, especially climate change, is far lower, but may be increased. The recent armed conflict in the Middle East may have an impact on this with calls to replace armaments.

The commemoration of another International Mother Earth Day should remind all of the relevance of climate justice and must alert us to the urgency of addressing the unequal distribution of resources for programmes on environmental impact. The Day is one calling for inclusivity, and it must be community-oriented with funds being passed on to grassroots groups.

In his seminal encyclical letter Laudato Si’ On care for Our Common Home, Pope Francis reminded that Mother Earth is crying “out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her.”

We, as heirs of creation, are called to protect all life so that future generations would have a land where “justice, peace, love and beauty” reign.

Delia Chatoor is a retired foreign service officer and a Lay Minister of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help, San Fernando Parish.