MANY HEAVENS, ONE EARTH Report from the Celebration of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) held at Windsor, 2 – 4 November 2009 200 delegates from faith groups around the world have gathered in Windsor to celebrate the contribution that faiths can make to caring for the earth. The opening session on Monday afternoon asked ‘Why do we care?’ and highlighted reports from the Amazon, Africa and Nepal about the damage that climate change, deforestation and other anthropogenic environmental change is doing to native peoples. * Archbishop Mokiwa Valentine told us how drought in Tanzania is creating poverty, disease, and death * Father Michael Holman SJ spoke about deforestation in the Amazon rainforest destroying the habitat of indigenous communities * Dekila Chungyalpa of WWF Nepal gave details of how melting ice caps in the Himalayas are reducing the flow in the great rivers of Asia such as the Ganges, putting at risk the water supply of tens of millions of people. They all made the point that climate change is happening now. It is not a future risk but is a contemporary problem causing damage and destruction to communities across the world. Alongside the stories of destruction there were stories of hope. * Sheikh Ali Gomma, the Grand Mufti of Egypt outlined the creation of the new Muslim Association for Climate Change Action (MACCA) which has ambitious plans to reduce the carbon footprint of cities in the Islamic world * Nigel Savage spoke about the work of Hazon, a Jewish Environment NGO based in New York City which is supporting the Jewish Climate Change Campaign. * There were other stories from the USA about growing activism in American churches on climate change, such as the GreenFaith initiative promoting environmental awareness among congregations in the New York area. These reports challenge our assumptions about Americans’ lack of concern about climate change. The contributors reiterated the breadth of action taking place by faith groups worldwide and the common concern about climate change. Day 2 ARC is inviting faith groups to make alliances with environment NGOs to promote joint action. Tony Juniper (formerly Chief Executive of Friends of the Earth England) identified a number of reasons why this should happen: * environment groups and faith groups have been developing in parallel concerns about how we live in relation to nature * the need to change how we live is now overwhelming – it is no longer an option * the environmental crisis has become an issue of fundamental importance to our future existence on earth Olav Kjorven, UN Assistant Secretary General set out how UNDP is supporting this work and the particular outcomes it is looking for from faith groups. These are: * progress in protecting vulnerable populations from environmental change * moving financial investment towards a low carbon future. The World Bank is now preparing a corporate environment strategy. It will include a commitment to work with faith groups to help them lead responses to climate change. All faith groups are invited to contribute to the development of the strategy through the World Bank website. At an award ceremony in Windsor Castle Ban Ki Moon and The Duke of Edinburgh made presentations to faith groups that have made long term plans for conservation or environmental protection initiatives. A list of these awards is on the ARC website. Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations In his address to the group he called upon faith groups to help bring about transformational change. He said: ‘those who are first and foremost to suffer from climate change are the poor’. Those who contributed least will be those who are hit hardest. He urged faith groups to do everything in their power to help achieve a good outcome at the Copenhagen climate change conference in December 2009. They should lobby political leaders in their own country to play a positive role in Copenhagen. He identified three reasons why faith groups can have a special role and believed that they could do more to lead on climate change: * the scale and reach of faith groups around the world means that they can reach a huge audience * the education role of faith groups to help people to understand the importance of climate change * the ability to inspire people of faith to take action Day 3 There were further presentations on new and developing initiatives from faith groups around the world These included: * Faith in Food which examines how congregations can reduce the environmental impact of the food they eat. * a ‘Religious Forest Standard’ which is under development to help faith groups who own or manage forests. * the Ecological Management Fund is working on a guide for faith groups on water conservation and management, to be published on the ARC website. * twinning on environmental themes between congregations in the USA and in developing countries is being promoted by a US group Interfaith Power and Light. * an environmental alliance of evangelical and RC churches in USA is discussing a common response to climate change. * the Church of Scotland is supporting the development of eco-congregations and encouraging the use of a simple carbon footprint tool to help congregations measure and reduce their carbon footprint by 5% a year. Key conclusions and lessons from the meeting * Care for the earth is a common duty for all faith groups. * Our use or misuse of the earth and its resources is now apparent: faith groups can not ignore the enormous problems that this is now causing. * Faith groups have a duty to help transform our attitudes to nature and our place within nature. * In the immediate future (November 2009) all faith groups should take action to lobby governments to agree a climate change deal in Copenhagen in December 2009. * In the longer term faith groups must act to develop environmental strategies to guide their future work. * Partnership between faith groups and other organisations including environment NGOs, scientists and government agencies is a proven way of developing and implementing effective strategies. Further details, pictures and resources are available from the ARC website: www.windsor2009.org/ All photos courtesy of ARC/Richard Stonehouse Adrian Shaw, Church of Scotland, 4 November 2009 Charity Number: SC011353 ashaw@cofscotland.org.uk