VATICAN (CNS): “Care for water sources and water basins is an urgent imperative,” Pope Francis said in his message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation on September 1, an observance begun by the Orthodox Church and now celebrated by many Christians.
 
The pope drew special attention to the more than 600 million people who do not have regular access to clean drinking water.
 

JAKARTA (UCAN): “People should vote for candidates who care for the environment and are serious about tackling ecological problems,” said Kisworo Dwi Cahyono, executive director of the provincial branch of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WALHI), as environmental concerns took centre stage in regional elections in South Kalimantan, Indonesia, when it emerged that the vast majority of mining and palm oil businesses in the province flout environmental laws.
 

MANILA (UCAN): Polluters of the environment, including big business and government officials, will be guaranteed to face criminal charges if advocates have their way and Philippine legislators pass a bill being prepared to grant rights to nature.
 
Church and environmental advocates ended a nationwide caravan in Manila on June 5, World Environment Day, to dramatise their call for the passage of a rights of nature law.
 

Vientiane (UCAN): Attapeu, a province in the southeast of Laos, is not a place that draws much attention. But a recent illegal logging incident in which a convoy of 27 trucks tried to cross into Vietnam, shone a light on the problem.
 
Illegal logging has been a major problem in the country for years so the scheme itself was far from unexpected. But the consequences were. 
 

VATICAN (CNS): A culture of peace “calls for unremitting efforts in favour of disarmament and the reduction of recourse to the use of armed force in the handling of international affairs,” Pope Francis said in his annual address to diplomats accredited to the Vatican on January 8. 
 

MANILA (UCAN): A decision of the Mining Industry Coordinating Council of The Philippines to lift the ban placed on open pit mining by the fired secretary for the environment, Gina Lopez, has drawn criticism from many quarters, especially indigenous peoples, areas heavily dependent on agriculture or the fish industry, as well as conservationists.
 
Father Edwin Gariguez, from Caritas Philippines, described the decision to end the ban as a backward step by government away from a policy designed specifically to protect the environment.