RSHM at the UN

Six RSHM, Rita Arthur, Brigid Driscoll, Margaret Ellen Flannelly, Mary Genino, Mary Heyser and Cathy Minhoto attended the 2007 DPI/NGO Conference. The following are some reflections on that international gathering.

Rita Arthur: This was a historic moment for the RSHM NGO. The setting was the 60^th annual DPI/NGO Conference at UN Headquarters in New York 5-7 September 2007.   The topic "Climate Change: How It Impacts Us All" focused on the growing concerns associated with climate change and its profound and decisive impact on human wellbeing. The participants, 2000 in number, came from over 80 countries and represented some 500 NGOs.  And, for the first time in our Institute history, a group of six RSHM gathered under the auspices of our NGO at the United Nations! As official RSHM representative at the UN, I was delighted to welcome our five visiting Sisters to the NGO community. Acting in the spirit of global consciousness highlighted at the General Chapter, we participated in plenary conference sessions and mid-day workshops; we meandered through UN halls with increasing familiarity of people and space; and we felt the global fellowship of the NGO community.   This was the kind of experience that reminds us that we are citizens of the world and that our RSHM mission "extends to the whole of God's creation in which we are but a small part."   (Catherine Dolan's letter 31 July 2007) 

Margaret Ellen Flannelly: I was able to attend the Conference as part of the 6 RSHM NGO representatives. There were more than 2,000 representatives from all over the world meeting to get input and to share on the issue of climate change that Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary General has described “grave and growing”. Through roundtables and workshops, the Conference touched on all aspects of climate change. What impressed me the most was the frequent emphasis on the ethical and humanitarian issues related to safeguarding and sustaining quality life on Earth. Several of the workshops were sponsored by religious oriented NGOs – e.g. Dominican Leadership Conference, Congregations of St. Joseph, Maryknoll Sisters, UNEP Interfaith Partnership for the Environment.

Margaret Ellen, Brigid

The UN, under the leadership of Ban Ki-Moon, intends to make the issue of climate change a significant part of this year’s UN agenda.

I was grateful for the opportunity to participate and thank
Rita Arthur and Catherine Dolan and the General Council who made our membership as a DPI/NGO possible.

Brigid Driscoll: For the past seven years I have been involved in the planning and development of The Beacon Institute, a center for the study of rivers and estuaries. Through scientific research and cutting edge technology the Institute will advance understanding of these bodies of water and will promote educational programs and public policy development to secure their future. Life on this planet depends on preserving and distributing fresh water. What attracted me at the recent DPI/NGO Conference was learning from experienced professionals the commonality of the problems faced in all parts of the world in meeting that challenge. What inspired me was the apparent commitment on the part of so many to address the problems aggressively and to collaborate in seeking solutions. I came away with a greater sense of hope and with renewed energy for the task.

I must say that the evident animosity I felt in a number of Conference sessions towards my country’s current leadership was sobering. Delegates expressed openly their disappointment with US policies on issues affecting climate change. Since I share that disappointment I am now even more committed to advocating for sound environmental policy development.

Few issues match climate change in the threat they pose to all of humanity... We cannot continue with business as usual. The time has come for decisive action. - Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General

Mary Heyser

Mary Heyser:The part I would like to mention is the Opening Session, which was held in the General Assembly Hall because of the larger number of participants – 2500 women and men from 80 countries.  We were welcomed by Kiyotaka Akasaka
(Japan), Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information at the UN, who expressed how pleased he was to have so many participants at this conference.

Opening addresses were given by Asha-Rose Migiro (Tanzania), Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and Haya Rashed Al-Kalifa (Bahrain), President of the Sixty-first Session of the General Assembly, United Nations.  Both these speakers emphasized the importance of Non-Governmental Organizations to the work of the United Nations. We were told: “You walk with us, you challenge us, you support us in our work. You are ‘on the ground’ in the many countries we represent and you know what is really going on and you tell us. You share that we are not meeting the MDGs even though many countries say they are. You see the great poverty, wars and health issues and other social ills. What gives great credibility to the NGOs is that you have no hidden agenda. You are there with the people who are suffering and bring this to us.  Thank you!”

It is also wonderful to see the role that women and men religious play in the leadership of the NGO/DPI. Sister Joan Kirby, RSCJ, who just finished her term as Chair of the Executive Committee of the NGP/DPI welcomed us and shared some information about their work. The work of religious women and men were well-represented in the roundtable sessions.

The whole program was excellent and I am so grateful that I attended.  I hope next year, when the NGO Conference will be held in Europe, that RSHM will take the opportunity to attend.

Cathy Minhoto: The issue of climate change is not a new one to us as RSHM – in several parts of the Institute we have identified care of the earth as a priority concern. So for me, attending the DPI/NGO conference was an opportunity to continue to deepen this connection with our earth and to make a concrete response to our 2007 General Chapter Commitments to “integrate this awareness into the living out of our spirituality in a global context”.

One reflection that has stayed me with is that those peoples least responsible for global warming will be those most negatively impacted by climate change. For example 4% of carbon emissions are produced in Sub-Saharan Africa, while the United States registers a carbon footprint of 23%. We already see climate change in relation to drought and flooding having catastrophic consequences within the African continent.

The Old Lakota was wise. He knew that the human heart away from nature becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans, too. - Chief Luther Standing Bear, 1898

I was personally moved by the reflection of Brazilian Marcos Terena, Professor of Traditional and Spiritual Knowledge of Indigenous People. He invited us to value the wisdom of native peoples whose connection to the earth is the foundation of their spirituality and represents a unique body of cultural and environmental knowledge. We listened to the Iroquois people’s dictum - the faces of coming generations are looking up from the earth so we must put our feet down very carefully! In addition, we were reminded, that for indigenous communities, all decision-making affecting peoples was shaped by consideration of the well-being and survival of the seventh generation of the seventh generation to come.

Living in Europe has helped me to reduce my own “carbon footprint” because of access to efficient, public transportation and creative recycling programs. I hope to deepen my own connection with the earth and become a better steward of the resources given to me by responding in other concrete ways to the challenges presented at this international event.

Go to:

Global Footprint Network

Lunch in the UN Cafeteria: Margaret Ellen Flannelly, Mary Genino, Cathy Minhoto, Lucianne Siers, OP (Director - Partnership for Global Justice), Mary Heyser, Rita Arthur

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