LONDON – Harnessing the power of religion in resolving environmental problems, representatives of the world’s main faiths are meeting in London Tuesday, November 3, to accelerate the fight against climate change. “It’s about religions mobilizing their followers to act against climate change,” UN Assistant Secretary General Olav Kjorven told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"We expect to send a strong signal from religion to governments that we are extremely committed.”
Representatives from nine major faiths, including Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism, are set to meet at Windsor Castle, near London, to raise the alarm on climate change.
Themed “Faith commitment for a Living Pl”, the gathering is co-staged by the UN and Prince Philip's Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC).
It will unveil programs that "could motivate the largest civil society movement the world has ever seen," said Kjorven.
UN scientists warn that fossil fuel pollution would raise temperatures this century, worsen floods, droughts and hurricanes, melt polar sea ice and damage the climate system for a thousand years to come.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says by 2080 up to 3.2 billion people -- one third of the pl's population -- will be short of water, up to 600 million will be short of food and up to 7 million will face coastal flooding.
Officials from around the world have been meeting over the last two years, following a "roadmap" designed to lead a December 7-18 conference in Copenhagen that will build a new pact on climate change beyond 2012.
But the negotiations are mired in discord.
Rich and poor countries are squabbling over how to apportion curbs in carbon emissions, finance a switch to lower-pollution technology and shore up defences against climate change.
Successive rounds have given birth to a baffling draft text of hundreds of pages, swathed in brackets denoting discord.
"The problem is deeper than economics and money,” Victoria Finlay, ARC’s director of communication, said.
“It's much more about the moral idea of 'Nature is God's Nature, so we have to be kind to it'."
Powerful Force
Faith leaders hope that the meeting will accelerate the fight against climate change.
"Global warming and its impacts cannot be looked at just as a material problem,” said Stuart Scott, the head of Interfaith Declaration on Climate Change.
“The root causes are spiritual."
Eighty-five percent of humanity follow a religion, a figure that shows the power of faith to move billions.
In addition, faith-based groups own nearly eight percent of habitable land on Earth, operate dozens of media groups and more than half the world's schools, and control seven percent of financial investments worth trillions, according to ARC.
Muslim leaders are leading the fight against climate change.
"We don't want to distance ourselves from governments, we are all in the same boat," said Mahmoud Akef.
"If we devastate the pl, we'll have no place else to live."
In July, some 200 Muslim leaders gathered in Istanbul to forge a seven-year climate change action plan.
One of the measures adopted was the creation of a "Muslim eco-label" for goods and services ranging from printings of the Qur’an to hajj.
For Peter Newell, a professor at the University of East Anglia in England, religion has the traction to haul a truly global movement.
"It would be a huge mobilising force if people started to frame the issue of climate change in religious terms."
Source: IslamOnline
"We expect to send a strong signal from religion to governments that we are extremely committed.”
Representatives from nine major faiths, including Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism, are set to meet at Windsor Castle, near London, to raise the alarm on climate change.
Themed “Faith commitment for a Living Pl”, the gathering is co-staged by the UN and Prince Philip's Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC).
It will unveil programs that "could motivate the largest civil society movement the world has ever seen," said Kjorven.
UN scientists warn that fossil fuel pollution would raise temperatures this century, worsen floods, droughts and hurricanes, melt polar sea ice and damage the climate system for a thousand years to come.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says by 2080 up to 3.2 billion people -- one third of the pl's population -- will be short of water, up to 600 million will be short of food and up to 7 million will face coastal flooding.
Officials from around the world have been meeting over the last two years, following a "roadmap" designed to lead a December 7-18 conference in Copenhagen that will build a new pact on climate change beyond 2012.
But the negotiations are mired in discord.
Rich and poor countries are squabbling over how to apportion curbs in carbon emissions, finance a switch to lower-pollution technology and shore up defences against climate change.
Successive rounds have given birth to a baffling draft text of hundreds of pages, swathed in brackets denoting discord.
"The problem is deeper than economics and money,” Victoria Finlay, ARC’s director of communication, said.
“It's much more about the moral idea of 'Nature is God's Nature, so we have to be kind to it'."
Powerful Force
Faith leaders hope that the meeting will accelerate the fight against climate change.
"Global warming and its impacts cannot be looked at just as a material problem,” said Stuart Scott, the head of Interfaith Declaration on Climate Change.
“The root causes are spiritual."
Eighty-five percent of humanity follow a religion, a figure that shows the power of faith to move billions.
In addition, faith-based groups own nearly eight percent of habitable land on Earth, operate dozens of media groups and more than half the world's schools, and control seven percent of financial investments worth trillions, according to ARC.
Muslim leaders are leading the fight against climate change.
"We don't want to distance ourselves from governments, we are all in the same boat," said Mahmoud Akef.
"If we devastate the pl, we'll have no place else to live."
In July, some 200 Muslim leaders gathered in Istanbul to forge a seven-year climate change action plan.
One of the measures adopted was the creation of a "Muslim eco-label" for goods and services ranging from printings of the Qur’an to hajj.
For Peter Newell, a professor at the University of East Anglia in England, religion has the traction to haul a truly global movement.
"It would be a huge mobilising force if people started to frame the issue of climate change in religious terms."
Source: IslamOnline
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