World leaders must reach a historic agreement to fight climate change and poverty at upcoming Paris talks, facing the stark choice to either "improve or destroy the environment", Pope Francis said in Africa on Thursday (November 26).

 

Francis chose his first visit to the world's poorest continent to issue a clarion call for the success of the two-week summit, known as COP21, that starts on Monday (November 30) in a French capital still reeling from attacks by Islamic State militants that killed 130 people on November 13.

 

In a long address in Spanish at the United Nations regional office, Francis said it would be "catastrophic" if particular interests prevailed over the common good of people and the planet or if the conference were manipulated by business interests.

 

"In a few days an important meeting on climate change will be held in Paris, where the international community as such will once again confront these issues. It would be sad, and I dare say even catastrophic, were particular interests to prevail over the common good and lead to manipulating information in order to protect their own plans and projects," the pope said in Nairobi, the home to the U.N. Environment Programme headquarters.

 

"In this international context, we are confronted with a choice which cannot be ignored: either to improve or to destroy the environment. Every step we take, whether large or small, individual or collective, in caring for creation opens a sure path for that generous and worthy creativity which brings out the best in human beings," he added.

 

The pope noted that some scientists consider protection of the Congo basin tropical forest, which spreads over six countries and is the world's second-largest after the Amazon, essential for the future of the planet because of its biodiversity.

 

In his address at the U.N. compound, he called for action against poaching and illegal mineral exploitation in Africa and called for "a new energy system" reducing fossil fuels to the minimum and a re-think the current development model.

 

"COP21 represents an important stage in the process of developing a new energy system which depends on a minimal use of fossil fuels, aims at energy efficiency and makes use of energy sources with little or no carbon content. We are faced with a great political and economic obligation to rethink and correct the dysfunctions and distortions of the current model of development," he said.

 

Francis, who took his name from St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of nature, has made protecting "God's creation" a plank of his pontificate. In June, he issued a landmark encyclical calling for urgent action to save the planet.

 

The pope is due to visit a poor Nairobi neighbourhood and meet with Kenyan youth before moving on to Uganda on Friday (November 27).  — Reuters