Pope Francis: Climate change ‘causing immense hardship for the most vulnerable among us’

Pope Francis: Climate change ‘causing immense hardship for the most vulnerable among us’
Feature sponsored by Concern Worldwide.

Extreme weather destroying crops and food supplies in world’s most vulnerable countries.

With climate change related hunger and malnutrition increasing, Pope Francis warned, “We have caused a climate emergency that gravely threatens nature and life itself, including our own.”

Worldwide, droughts and floods have more than doubled since the early 1990’s with Africa particularly badly affected.

Climate change has an increasingly destructive impact on people living in already vulnerable communities.  Such as those in Niger, Western Africa where 80% of the population relies on agriculture for their livelihoods. And where this year 2.7 million people are now projected to urgently need food if they are to survive.

Since 1968 Irish charity Concern Worldwide has worked around the world helping alleviate hunger caused by natural or manmade disasters. Over this period climate change has become one of the key drivers of hunger.

To fund its work, one of Concern’s most vital sources – on which it absolutely depends – is gifts in the Wills of its supporters. These gifts ensure Concern will always be there for people in need of a helping hand.

What Concern’s help looks like

Life is a constant struggle for survival in Niger, becoming almost impossible during the annual ‘hunger gap’.

It’s a desperate 5 month period where food from the last harvest has run out and it will be months until more is available.

And Covid-19 has further exacerbated an already dreadful situation. Local markets have less food to sell so prices have risen. And there’s a shortage of seeds for next season’s crops – the pandemic’s deadly effects will be felt next year too.

Vulnerable families, who already have little to eat, are in grave danger.

But thanks to gifts in Wills, Concern is providing food for families in desperate need. And equipping communities to support themselves long into the future. This help better seeds, tools, training to adopt climate-smart techniques and more.

Chawada Aboubacar is a mother of five. Her family own a small piece of land where they grow the grain, millet. When it runs out between harvests, it used to be a struggle to provide the food they needed to survive.

But thanks to support from Concern, she now has a thriving kitchen garden and grows a variety of vegetables. This will provide nutritious food for her family this year and for years to come. Keeping her children safe from hunger so they can thrive.

“We will start eating cabbage, carrot and lettuce in one month and then the onion in about six weeks. This garden helps me and my family. It makes me happy.” – Chawada Aboubacar

By passing on the skills she has gained to her children, Chawada is ensuring they will be self-sufficient in the future; able to provide for both their own families and the wider community – helping to pull everyone out of poverty.

Thanks to generous people leaving Concern a gift in their Wills, families like Chawada’s can feed themselves this year. The knowledge and skills they gain will make sure they have enough food to eat every year from now on.

Be part of a world without hunger

“What would induce anyone … only to be remembered for their inability to take action when it was so urgent and necessary to do so?” –Pope Francis

Won’t you help Concern fight poverty and hunger – to end it in some of the world’s poorest communities – by leaving a life changing gift in your Will?

To discover more about how this transforms and saves lives, please request your complimentary copy of Concern’s legacy booklet. It shows how legacies are helping the world’s poorest people and answers many questions people have about leaving a gift in their Will. It also explains how to start the process.

Of course requesting your free booklet does not oblige you to leave a gift, or do anything else.