| 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 have to 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: Islam |
| 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
United Kingdom (UK) churches 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-Firstt
Century. |
ARC usually works with local partners
on a project-by-project basis. It also works with
many religious and environmental groups 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 (UNEP) |
| 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 |
