Climate change concerns may have gradually gained traction over the past decade, but concrete political action continues to lag behind.

We have to recognise not all of us are suffering the consequences of environmental destruction

Grandiose promises often peter out into insignificance, as the failure of 2009’s Copenhagen climate change summit illustrated. Behind the failure of such initiatives was an overreliance on technical solutions without adequately considering social compassion, a Jesuit social justice scholar has now argued.

Rome-based Fr Patxi Álvarez also criticised political leaders for their vote-driven approach to resolving global ecological crises, of which the greatest victims were often poor communities.

The Jesuit scholar, who heads the order’s social justice and ecology secretariat, is in Malta to present a lecture on ecology and justice at St Aloysius College today. The lecture will be based on a task force report led by Fr Álvarez entitled Healing A Broken World.

“Technical solutions are very important but they’re not enough. We have to recognise that not all of us are suffering the consequences of environmental destruction,” Fr Álvarez said.

“There are no technical solutions for them (the poor); their voice is too weak to defend themselves and they have no real power.

“They depend on compassion, spiritual motivations and firm commitment in our societies.”

Part of the problem lay in the world’s political structure and those populating it, he conceded.

“Decisive action today depends on broad consensus... there isn’t just one country or authority that can bring about action. There are no shortcuts.”

Shortcuts are exactly what environmentalists argue are needed if climate change is to be averted in time. But the political leadership to push concerted action forward is missing.

Fr Álvarez felt there were “very few” so-called “world leaders”.

“Most... long for the support of voters and will primarily look out for their own political interests. Climate change is a very long process and leaders are in office only for a short time. Consequences will appear tomorrow when leaders are no longer in office.”

He defended the Church’s track record in raising ecological awareness, while agreeing that “we can do more”.

His task force report found industrial agriculture has exacted a high cost on the environment. But intensive agriculture has also lifted millions out of poverty. Achieving a balance between the two concerns continued to elude mankind, Fr Álvarez noted.

“We have not reached that balance. We have primarily decided to profit from nature and its resources and only recently started to understand that if nature is destroyed, humanity will suffer too.”

Fr Álvarez’s lecture starts at 6.30 p.m.