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Faith in Conservation: Lambeth Palace, Nov 2015
THE OPENING SPEECH BY THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH
In-depth article in Bozeman Daily Chronicle on religions and conservation, following the meeting.
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Link here for the meeting press release.
Link here for the meeting agenda
Photographs on FLICKR
Announcement from Lambeth of R20's Faithful Cities green initiative with Pilgrim cities
PRESS RELEASE: French President sends letter to Heads of State about COP as matter for personal conscience
Thirty years ago HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, in his role as International President of WWF, had the idea of holding a gathering at Assisi of some of the major conservation and environment organisations and five of the world's major religions, to find out how - and whether - they could work together.
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HRH Prince Philip founded ARC in 1996 ARC/Katia Marsh |
At the time it was a radical – and for many people a rather astonishing –link between two quite different kind of structural entities. However, each faith turned out to have a deep scriptural, spiritual and cultural link with nature, and a readiness to take steps to protect it. In the three decades since, hundreds of thousands of faith-based conservation programmes and projects have developed. But there has never been an international attempt to consolidate lessons learned and best practices in order to inform the development of new partnerships and to sustain the ones that have developed.
For the first time ever, ARC, together with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is asking key people who have brokered these partnerships and those active in research or projects linking religion and conservation to come together to share experiences, successes, failures, hopes, plans and dreams. And then create a handbook to show how it can be done.
The meeting
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HRH Prince Philip with Sally Bingham of Interfaith Power and Light and ARC's Martin Palmer ARC/Katia Marsh |
The meeting was held in the medieval Palace of the Archbishops of Canterbury, Lambeth Palace, just across the River Thames from the Houses of Parliament. The meeting was opened officially by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. Read the opening speech by the Duke of Edinburgh.
Link here for a list of delegates and their brief biographies.
Sponsorship and support
Sponsors include The Nature Conservancy through the Science for Nature and People (SNAP) partnership. SNAP partnership, WWF-UK, and The Pilkington Foundation.
Background
In 1986, an historic gathering was held at Assisi including the major conservation and environmental organisations and five of the world’s major faiths: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism. HRH The Duke of Edinburgh initiated this event in his role as International President of WWF. Read an interview with Prince Philip about Assisi and ARC .
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Dr Elizabeth McLeod of TNC talks about why a partnership of religions and conservation is vital. ARC/Katia Marsh |
Over the 30 years since, many thousands of faith-based conservation programmes have developed. An academic discipline linking religion and ecology is now well-established in universities around the world. However, there has never been an international attempt to consolidate lessons learned and best practices in order to inform the development of new partnerships and to sustain the ones that have developed.
For the first time ever, we are asking key people who have brokered these partnerships, helping to design faith-based programmes with major secular organisations, and those active in research or projects linking religion and conservation to come together to share experiences, successes, failures, hopes, plans, and dreams.
Together, we will discuss what guidance and tools are needed to develop and maintain partnerships between conservation groups and faith groups. We will synthesize challenges, lessons learned, and best practices to support such partnerships.
A Handbook
A key potential output is the development of a handbook for conservation organizations and faith groups to inspire new and support existing partnerships and to reinforce our collective efforts to protect our planet. We will also explore identifying several pilot projects to apply the guidance developed. It is our hope that this workshop will enable a global network of faith/conservation leaders to share approaches and inspire additional projects and partnerships.
Links
THE OPENING SPEECH BY THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH
Photographs on FLICKR
Full press release.
PDF of the press release
Lambeth meeting agenda
Interview with HRH Prince Philip about founding ARC
In-depth article in Bozeman Daily Chronicle on religions and conservation, following the meeting.
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ARC at a glance
ARC is a secular body that helps the major religions of the world to develop their own environmental programmes, based on their own core teachings, beliefs and practices. |
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Major ARC events
The page where you can find details about ARC's biggest events |
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October 20, 2015:
China Daily features ARC's work in China in advance of President Xi's visit to UK
An article in China Daily today highlights the recent burgeoning of Daoist, Confucianist and Chinese Buddhist actions on environment. The article is published in advance of President Xi's visit to UK this week. |
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