With the imminent United Nations Summit on Climate Change this year, Benedict XVI's address to world leaders pertaining to issues to be discussed in said gathering has significance for us as well in view of the controversy caused by the coal-mining operations of Monte Oro Resources Energy Inc. in Catanduanes.
The Summit, according to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, would be deliberating on five points: "1) Enhanced action to assist the most vulnerable and the poorest to adapt to the impacts of climate change; 2) ambitious emission reduction targets for industrialized countries; 3) nationally-appropriate mitigation actions by developing countries with the necessary support; 4) significantly scaled-up financial and technological resources; and 5) an equitable governance structure."
To these, Benedict XVI adds an important orientational principle: "The economic and social costs of using up shared resources must be recognized with transparency and borne by those who incur them, and not by other peoples or future generations." In other words, in the deliberations concerning the use of Earth's resources, Benedict XVI reminds the world's leaders that short-term economic gains resulting from the exploitation of our natural resources must not override real concerns for long-term harm, most particularly when those to be afflicted are the future generations.
This reminder is of absolute pertinence to what is currently taking place at Catanduanes.
Government agencies which include the DENR and the DOE must consider this "rule of thumb" underscored by Benedict XVI. For while coal is the world's leading source of electricity today, it also remains as the primary source of carbon dioxide emissions which are responsible for about 70 percent of man-made global warming. Thus, even when it can be granted that Catanduanes would benefit from a coal-mining operation such as one insisted by Monte Oro (though it is debatable who would really benefit from it), it behooves us to be considerate of our children's children who are assuredly the ones to pay the steep price for our present benefit and convenience. Whatever economic advantages the coal-mining operation in Catanduanes purportedly offers, they must be viewed as entailing costs-economic, social, environmental-which are not only to be borne by this generation, but also by the next. And even the next one after it.
Ultimately therefore, the operation of a coal mine is significantly more costly; hence, it must be prevented from occuring in Catanduanes.