| The Alliance of Religions and Conservation
(ARC) is a secular body that helps the world’s
major religions develop their own environmental
programs based on their core teachings, beliefs,
and practices. ARC links religions with key environmental
organizations, creating powerful alliances between
religious communities and conservation groups.
The Alliance works with eleven major religions
(Baha’ism, Buddhism, Christianity, Daoism,
Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shintoism, Sikhism,
and Zoroastrianism) as well as the key traditions
or denominations within each. ARC recognizes the
crucial role that the world’s religions play
in addressing the environmental crisis: the eleven
religions participating in the Alliance
own seven percent of the habitable surface of the
planet; if they invested together, they would be
the world’s third largest identifiable block
of holders of stocks and shares. Combined, these
religions reach out to every village and town,
have the trust of more people than any other national
or international group, and their followers constitute
at least two-thirds of the world’s population.
By drawing on holy books, sacred sites, traditional
farming, education networks, media, and the assets
of the religions, ARC helps create environmental
projects such as forest management, organic farming,
alternative energy, socially responsible investing,
educational projects, sacred nature reserves, urban
planning, and professional development. Current
ARC projects include: founding an International
Interfaith Investment Group (3iG) with the intention
of working with the investment arms of religions
to create models for positive investment. The aim
of this project is for each religion to assess
its portfolios with due regard to its beliefs,
values, the environment, and human rights “so
that all life on Earth can benefit.” Another
major initiative, the Asian-Buddhist Network, enables
Buddhists from all corners of Asia to share their
experiences with environmental projects within
their communities. |
| Inter-religious: Hinduism |
| International |
| 1986–Present |
| The idea behind ARC emerged in 1986,
when World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-International
was celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary. Its
President at the time,
Prince
Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, suggested marking
the occasion by inviting representatives of five
major religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism,
Islam, Judaism) to the event, which was held in
Assisi, home of St Francis, the Catholic patron
saint of the environment. Prince Philip realized
that WWF needed to connect with people who live
in areas of greatest risk and where the potential
for biological diversity is highest. Realizing
that local religious leaders are often active and
influential within their communities, he concluded
that helping local religious leaders appreciate
their responsibility for the environment and explain
that responsibility to the people in their communities
would raise environmental awareness around the
globe. Following the 1986 Assisi event, WWF-International
established a program with the main religions to
develop thousands of religion-based environmental
programs. In 1992, Prince Philip was awarded the
United Nations (UN) prize for ecology for the success
of this work. Prince Philip founded ARC as a separate
not-for-profit
organization in 1995. Since then, it has worked
on hundreds of projects in sixty-eight countries.
These include
reviving sacred mountains in Mongolia, protecting
sacred forests in Lebanon, working with the Swedish
Church on sustainable forest policies for its extensive
landholdings, supporting the Zoroastrian community
in Mumbai on vulture breeding programs, helping
churches in the United Kingdom (UK) make their
graveyards sanctuaries for rare flora and fauna,
and helping
Sheikhs in
Zanzibar
persuade local fishermen not to use explosives
as a fishing technique because it
is against Islamic law. |
| ARC’s primary aim is to assist
and enable the religions of the world to respond
to the environmental challenges of the Twenty-First
Century. |
ARC usually works with local partners
on a project-by-project basis. It also works
with many religious and environmental organizations
such as:
The China
Taoist
Association
The
Zoroastrian Alliance of
Religions and Conservation
WWF International
The World Bank
Mlup Baitong
in Cambodia
The Noah Project in the UK
The
Association for
Forestry
Development and Conservation (AFDC) Lebanon
Conservation
Foundation UK
The United Nations Environmental
Program
|
| None Listed |
| None Listed |
| None Listed |
ARC
3 Wynnstay Grove
Fallowfield
Manchester M14 6XG
United Kingdom
Ph: +44.0.16. 248.5731
Fax: +44.0.161.248.5736
Email: info@arcworld.org |
