Poor climate policies are environmental "apartheid"

Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga has warned that many of the world's nations have environmental and energy policies that "divide man from nature."

Cardinal Oscar Maradiaga

Responding to stories coming out of South Africa where delegates from 200 countries gathered last week for global climate talks, Cardinal Maradiaga, who is president of the Church's confederation of relief and development agencies, said, "Don't we realize that the climate is out of control? How long will countless people have to go on dying before adequate decisions are taken?"

The Harper government will not renew its commitment to the Kyoto Protocol once it expires in 2012, said Environment Minister Peter Kent, speaking in Durban.

Kyoto has been the only legally binding treaty in the world that requires countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions responsible for trapping heat in the atmosphere.

The government is setting less demanding targets for Canadian industries, arguing that keeping to Kyoto would harm Canadian business opportunities.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Maradiaga continues to argue that the conference delegates have had their voices "silenced by economic power."