Faiths protect Forests: English press release

An unlikely alliance between Shinto priests in Japan and the Lutheran Church of Sweden has led to a meeting next week that will lead to millions of hectares of forests around the world being managed according to ecological principles.

More than 50 people – foresters, bishops, religious leaders, hereditary priests, conservationists and UN representatives - will attend the Faiths and Forests meeting on the Swedish island of Gotland from August 27 to 29.

"Up till now, many people - including in the faiths themselves - have not quite realised the impact of the religions on forests around the world.” said Martin Palmer, Secretary General of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), which is arranging the meeting in association with the Swedish Lutheran Church and the Association of Shinto Shrines in Japan.

As well as the sacred forests and groves, a large number of faith groups own huge tracts of commercial forest. In Sweden for example 22% of commercial forestry is church-owned. In Austria, one Benedictine monastery alone owns 28% of the commercial forests.

“If the faiths can take their respect for sacred forests and make that into active conservation - and a sacred trust - for their commercial forests, then they could potentially play a major role in sustainable management for forests and habitats - and towards addressing climate issues.”

There are two long-term aims:

	Visby cathedral at twilight

The first is to create an international standard for religious-owned forests along the lines of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) guidelines. The purpose of this first meeting is to open discussions with religious and secular foresters on how such a standard can be developed.

The second is to protect sacred lands around the world. And several of the faiths will declare at the meeting that all their lands will now be environmentally protected and described as faith-protected environments.

As well as senior Lutherans and Shinto, the meeting also includes, (from among those who have specifically combined their faith vocation with forest preservation):

* a Druze Sheikh and Maronites from Lebanon, who are working very actively to protect their sacred places, including the sacred Harisa forest, Qadisha valley, and Lebanese cedars.

* A delegate from Orissa in India, with experience of preserving ancient forests that for years have been maintained to provide wood for the Jagannath festival (from which we get our English word juggernaut)

* A Cambodian Buddhist monk who inspires sangha communities throughout the country to respect their forests and environments – including establishing plant nurseries, organising recycling campaigns, and creating a ceremony to ordain trees, in order to protect them.

* A German-born Benedictine monk who helps manage a 50 ha forestry plantation connected to his monastery in Tanzania.

The meeting and process emerge from an unusual alliance carved in Kathmandu in 2000, during the WWF/ARC Celebrations of Sacred Gifts for a Living Planet. The Church of Sweden, one of Sweden’s major forest owners, signed an agreement with the major Japanese Shinto organisation Jinja Honcho that both would work with WWF and ARC to assist religious forest owners to develop the highest possible environmental standards.

The first stage was for the two to study their own forestry practices.

* The Church of Sweden has already FSC-certified over 40% of their own forests since 2000 and aims for 60% by 2010. In collaboration with local churches it has also established forests elsewhere including Mozambique. * The Jinja Honcho owns 2.4 million hectares of forest in Japan. In a 2006 study of their forestry practices undertaken with the Church of Sweden, FSC, ARC and WWF, the Jinja Honcho drew up procedures for the management of their own forests. It has also pledged to assist indigenous faith communities worldwide to set up their own forest management principles. This is especially important given the incursion into many ancient forests around the world of aggressive forestry companies, many of which are Japanese.

The target is that in 2014, at the formal rebuilding of the great wooden shrines of Ise – the holiest site of Shintoism in Japan – Jinja Honcho will host an international convention at which the new guidelines will be formally adopted by as many religious forestry groups as possible.

This is the first time that the Shinto have ever co-hosted an international event, on any subject.

Contact: Communications Director, ARC
The House, Kelston Park,
Bath, BA1 9AE, UK
Email: arcworld@arcworld.org
+44 1225 758004
Link here for the programme, here for the FAQ, and here for the press release in Swedish.

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