protection of the ozone layer and its implementation through the Montreal Protocol and amendments,
the problemof the layer’s thinning seems tohave entered aphaseof resolution.
169. As far as the protection of biodiversity and issues related to desertification are concerned,
progress has been far less significant. With regard to climate change, the advances have been
regrettably few. Reducing greenhouse gases requires honesty, courage and responsibility, above all on
the part of those countries which are more powerful and pollute the most. The Conference of the
United Nations on Sustainable Development, “Rio+20” (Rio de Janeiro 2012), issued a wide-ranging
but ineffectual outcome document. International negotiations cannot make significant progress due to
positions taken by countrieswhich place their national interests above the global common good. Those
who will have to suffer the consequences of what we are trying to hide will not forget this failure of
conscience and responsibility. Even as this Encyclical was beingprepared, the debatewas intensifying.
We believers cannot fail to ask God for a positive outcome to the present discussions, so that future
generationswill not have to suffer the effects ofour ill-advised delays.
170. Some strategies for lowering pollutant gas emissions call for the internationalization of
environmental costs, which would risk imposing on countries with fewer resources burdensome
commitments to reducing emissions comparable to those of the more industrialized countries.
Imposing suchmeasures penalizes those countriesmost in need of development. A further injustice is
perpetrated under the guise of protecting the environment. Here also, the poor end up paying the price.
Furthermore, since the effects of climate change will be felt for a long time to come, even if stringent
measures are taken now, some countrieswith scarce resourceswill require assistance in adapting to the
effects already being produced, which affect their economies. In this context, there is a need for
common anddifferentiated responsibilities. As the bishops ofBoliviahave stated, “the countries which
have benefited from a high degree of industrialization, at the cost of enormous emissions of greenhouse
gases, have agreater responsibility for providing a solution to the problems theyhave caused”.
127
171. The strategyof buying and selling “carbon credits” can lead to anew formof speculationwhich
would not help reduce the emission of polluting gases worldwide. This system seems to provide a
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BOLIVIANBISHOPS’ CONFERENCE, Pastoral Letter on theEnvironment andHumanDevelopment inBolivia
El
universo, dondeDios para la vida
(March2012), 86.
