Plan to turn Madinah into a green oasis

Major religions announce steps to tackle climate change

REPRESENTATIVES of the world's main faiths met in London on Tuesday to harness the power of religion in the fight against climate change, with Muslims unveiling plans to turn the holy city of Madinah into a green oasis. It's about religions mobilising their followers to act against climate change, UN Assistant Secretary General Olav Kjorven said.

"We expect to send a strong signal from religion to governments that we are extremely committed." 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 said.

Eighty-five percent of humanity follow a religion, a figure that shows the power of faith to move billions, he pointed out.

Representatives from nine major faiths, including Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism met at Windsor Castle, near London, to raise the alarm on climate change.

Themed Faith commitment for a Living Planet, the gathering is co-staged by the UN and Prince Philip's Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC).

UN scientists warn that fossil fuel pollution would raise temperatures this century, worsen floods, droughts and hurricanes, melt polar sea ice and damage the climate system for a thousand years to come. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says by 2080 up to 3.2 billion people — one third of the planet's population -- will be short of water, up to 600 million will be short of food and up to seven million will face coastal flooding.

Officials from around the world have been meeting over the last two years, following a "roadmap" designed to lead a December 7-18 conference in Copenhagen that will build a new pact on climate change beyond 2012.

But the negotiations are mired in discord. Rich and poor countries are squabbling over how to apportion curbs in carbon emissions, finance a switch to lower-pollution technology and shore up defences against climate change.

Successive rounds have given birth to a baffling draft text of hundreds of pages, swathed in brackets denoting discord.

"The problem is deeper than economics and money," Victoria Finlay, ARCs director of communication, said.

"It's much more about the moral idea of 'Nature is God's Nature, so we have to be kind to it'."

Addressing the meeting, Egypt's Mufti Ali Gomaa said Islam teaches followers to protect the environment, reported The Independent.

"It is a religious duty to safeguard our environment and advocate the importance of preserving it," he said.

"Pollution and global warming pose an even greater threat than war and the fight to preserve the environment could be the most positive way of bringing humanity together. Gomaa unveiled plans to turn the holy city of Madinah in Saudi Arabia into a green oasis. He said public transport in the holy city will be improved to curb carbon emission.

The plans also include using renewable energy in mosques, curbing the use of plastic bottles by pilgrims by providing clean water from taps and encouraging green habits in holy places.

Environment-related issues ought to be a significant component of educational curricula, Gomaa said.

The Madinah initiative is part of a seven-year climate change action plan adopted by Muslim leaders in Istanbul in July.

One of the measures adopted was the creation of a "Muslim eco-label" for goods and services ranging from printing of the Quran to Haj.

"It is the duty of all religious scholars to acquaint themselves with the environmental crisis we are facing." ARC Secretary General Martin Palmer praised the Muslim initiative, saying the Islamic faith always has a green message. "People think the environmental message has always come from the West," he said.

"But the message is now coming from Muslim religious leaders and their own religious texts."

"We don't want to distance ourselves from governments, we are all in the same boat," said Mahmoud Akef, who led the initiative. "If we devastate the planet, we'll have no place else to live."

Sikhs who feed some 30 million people in need every day in their temples in India are poised to revamp their kitchens to make them "eco-friendly," and China's Taoist temples are going solar.

Faith-based groups own nearly eight per cent of habitable land on Earth, operate dozens of media groups and more than half the world's schools, and control seven per cent of financial investments worth trillions, according to ARC.IslamOnline, Agencies