BRAZZAVILLE JANUARY 3, 2017(CISA)-Episcopal conference of Congo has urged all Congolese to help in protection and care of environment.

In a New Year message addressed to the faithful, the bishops decried the fast-disappearing forests in the country as worrying.

“We invite you to respect the environment, the magnificent nature that God has given us. Save our common home, as Pope Francis reminds us,” the bishops said in the statement.

“In general, we can see the misuse of the benefits of nature and the degradation of it: Forests are disappearing little by little because of excessive exploitation for wood and the lack of a policy for reforestation in the country,” added the bishops.

The bishops further warned against the management of waste in Congo’s towns and cities.

“In most of our cities, lanes are full of garbage; grand avenues are losing their shine more and more;  gutters are blocked, or nonexistent; rivers flowing through cities have become makeshift dumping sites for waste,” the bishops observed.

The prelates urged people to internalize the message of Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato sí.

“Beloved sons and daughters, we invite you to a true “ecological conversion”, a conversion (metanoia) that involves respect for nature and education,” the bishops concluded.