By Anne Chaon and Marlowe Hood – Mon Nov 2, 1:52 pm ET
PARIS (AFP) – Leaders from nine major faiths meet at Windsor Castle on Tuesday in an exceptional initiative that supporters predict will harness the power of religion in the fight against climate change.
The oecumenical gathering at the home of Queen Elizabeth II, 35 kilometres (22 miles) west of London, is being co-staged by the United Nations and Prince Philip's Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC).
Representatives from Baha'ism, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Shintoism, Sikhism and Taoism will unveil programmes that "could motivate the largest civil society movement the world has ever seen," said UN Assistant Secretary General Olav Kjorven.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon will launch the event under the banner "Faith Commitments for a Living Planet."
"We expect to send a strong signal from religion to governments that we are extremely committed. It's about religions mobilising their followers to act against climate change," Kjorven told AFP in an interview.
Eighty-five percent of humanity follow a religion, a figure that shows the power of faith to move billions, he pointed out.
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.
"But the problem is deeper than economics and money, it's much more about the moral idea [of] 'Nature is God's Nature, so we have to be kind to it'," said Victoria Finlay, ARC's director of communication.
"Global warming and its impacts cannot be looked at just as a material problem. The root causes are spiritual," agreed Stuart Scott, whose Interfaith Declaration on Climate Change -- calling for the "stewardship and reverence for creation" -- has been endorsed by dozens of major religious organisations. …
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