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1.5. Regulatory Concepts in Environmental Codifications
The World Peace Day message on rethinking the economic system contains
the following teaching:
"It must also be said that the proper ecological balance will not be found
without directly addressing the structural forms of poverty that exist throughout
the world. Rural poverty and unjust land distribution in many countries,
for example, have led to subsistence farming and to the exhaustion of the
soil. Once their land yields no more, many farmers move on to clear new
land, thus accelerating uncontrolled deforestation, or they settle in urban
centres which lack the infrastructure to receive them. Likewise, some
heavily indebted countries are destroying their natural heritage, at the price
of irreparable ecological imbalances, in order to develop new products for
export. In the face of such situations it would be wrong to assign
responsibility to the poor alone for the negative environmental consequences
of their actions. Rather, the poor, to whom the earth is entrusted no less
than to others, must be enabled to find a way out of their poverty. This
will require a courageous reform of structures, as well as new ways of
relating among peoples and States."
His Holiness highlighted the global nature of ecological problems and human
responsibility with the following. “Today the ecological crisis has assumed
such proportions as to be the responsibility of everyone. As I have pointed out,
its various aspects demonstrate the need for concerted efforts aimed at
establishing the duties and obligations that belong to individuals, peoples,
States and the international community. This not only goes hand in hand
with efforts to build true peace, but also confirms and reinforces those efforts
in a concrete way. When the ecological crisis is set within the broader context
of the search for peace within society, we can understand better the importance
of giving attention to what the Earth and its atmosphere are telling us: namely,
that there is an order in the universe which must be respected, and that the
human person, endowed with the capability of choosing freely, has a grave
responsibility to preserve this order for the well-being of future generations.
I wish to repeat that che ecological crisis is a moral issue.”
The fact that the ecological crisis is also a moral crisis is emphasized by
numerous other documents, as did the encyclicals Laudato Si” and apostolic
exhortation Laudate Deum.” Pope Leo XIV also called for moral renewal,
6 Tbid., §11.
®% John Paul II: Peace with God the Creator, Peace with All of Creation, §15, January 1, 1990,
https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/messages/peace/documents/hf_jp-ii_
mes_19891208_xxiii-world-day-for-peace.html
7” Francis: 2015. Laudato si’, 887-945.
7! Francis: Laudate Deum.
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