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Caritas Oceania

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Caritas Oceania
FocusHumanitarian aid, international development
Area served
Oceania
Key people
Cardinal Soane Patita Paini Mafi (president)[1]

Caritas Oceania is an Oceanian confederation of Catholic social, humanitarian, and relief organisations. It is one of the seven regional confederations of Caritas Internationalis members. Caritas Oceania consists of seven member organisations from across the Pacific Islands, Australia and New Zealand.

History

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2000s

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In 2005, Caritas Oceania proposed that climate change should become the chief environmental justice focus of Caritas Internationalis.[2]

In 2006, Caritas Oceania held a meeting in Wellington to discuss climate change, where they were addressed by New Zealand Minister of Energy and Climate Change Issues David Parker.[3]

2010s

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Beginning in 2014, Caritas Oceania published annual 'Caritas State of the Environment for Oceania' reports focussing on environmental issues throughout the Pacific,[4] including climate change and its affects on Pacific communities.[5][6][7]

2020s

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In February 2021, Caritas Oceania president Sr Senolita Vakata passed away, and was replaced in March by Cardinal Soane Patita Paini Mafi of Tonga.[1] The same year, Caritas Internationalis celebrated its 70th anniversary with a series of webinars focussing on different regions, including one for Caritas Oceania in which members spoke of the issues facing the region regarding environmental justice and gender equality.[8]

In 2022, Caritas Oceania published a report entitled 'Twin Clouds on the Horizon' focussing on climate finance issues in the Pacific, and the interrelated threats of climate damage and debt faced by Pacific Island nations. The report was co-authored with Jubilee Australia Research Centre.[9][10] In July 2022, Caritas Oceania sent a delegate to the United Nations Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal.[11]

In 2024 Caritas Oceania authored a research report entitled Weathering the Storm: Addressing Debt and Climate Vulnerability in the Pacific.[12] The report was released at the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29), with Tuvaluan Minister for Climate Change Maina Talia present.[13] The report exposed serious issues with climate finance for Pacific countries, highlighting that climate finance is often given as loans rather than grants, leading to unsustainable levels of sovereign debt.[14] The report also found a US$1bn shortfall in climate finance for Pacific island countries from what is required to adapt to climate change.[13] Caritas Oceania made three key recommendations in the report: that climate finance to the Pacific should be significantly increased; that it should occur through UN-administered grants rather than loans; and that global financial systems should be improved to restructure or cancel unsustainable and illegitimate sovereign debts tied to climate finance.[12][13][14]

Members

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Country Member organisation
(English name) 		Established
 Australia Caritas Australia 1964
 Fiji Caritas Fiji 2019
 Papua New Guinea Caritas Papua New Guinea 1974
 New Zealand Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand 1966
 Samoa Caritas Samoa 2008
 Tonga Caritas Tonga 1972
Pacific Islands Caritas Pacific Islands 1980

References

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  1. ^ a b NZ Catholic Staff (23 March 2021). "New president for Caritas Oceania". NZ Catholic. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  2. ^ Reid, Hannah; Simms, Andrew; Johnson, Victoria (2007). Up in Smoke? Asia and the Pacific: The Threat from Climate Change to Human Development and the Environment (Illustrated ed.). Great Britain: IIED. p. 83. ISBN 1904882250.
  3. ^ Parker, David (20 July 2006). "Caritas Oceania meeting in Wellington". Beehive.govt.nz. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  4. ^ Caritas Internationalis (1 July 2022). "Statement to UN Ocean Conference from Caritas Internationalis Delegation" (PDF). UNDESA. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  5. ^ Bourke, Megan (September 2018). "Climate justice - turning the tide in our Asia-Pacific neighbourhood". Interaction. 46 (3): 23–25. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  6. ^ Woolf, Amber-Leigh (3 October 2019). "In low-lying nations of Oceania, people are already dying of climate change, report says". Stuff. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  7. ^ Caritas Oceania (7 October 2019). "Seeds of Hope: Caritas State of the Environment for Oceania 2019 Report". ReliefWeb. OCHA. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  8. ^ De Angelis, Andrea (9 November 2021). "Caritas Internationalis focuses on commitment to Oceania". Vatican News. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  9. ^ Caritas Oceania; Jubilee Australia Research Centre (7 October 2022). "Twin clouds on the horizon: Averting a combined climate and debt crisis in the Pacific through locally-driven climate finance". ReliefWeb. OCHA. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  10. ^ Kohout, Jan (17 October 2022). "Pacific faces perfect storm of climate change and debt says report". RNZ. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  11. ^ Kara, Tita. "UNOC Plenary Session Statement by Caritas Internationalis" (PDF). UNDESA. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  12. ^ a b Caritas Oceania; Caritas Australia; Jubilee Australia Research Centre (November 2024). "Weathering the Storm: Addressing Debt and Climate Vulnerability in the Pacific" (PDF). Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
  13. ^ a b c Daalder, Mark (15 November 2024). "Pacific staring down 'twin storms' of debt and climate disaster". Newsroom. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
  14. ^ a b Strong, Khalia (18 November 2024). "Drowning in debt: Church demands relief for Pacific nations". Pacific Media Network. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
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