Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Conference Coverage: ARC
ARC:
"Northern Buddhists launch new ecological network
Ulaanbaatar: June 20 2005:
As the sound of chanting spread across a room full of several hundred Buddhist monks in Ulan Baator this morning, the newly elected President of Mongolia launched a unique event.
The occasion was the launch of the Northern Buddhist Conference on Ecology and Development.
The meeting was historic for two key reasons. It was the first conference bringing together the Buddhist monasteries in Mongolia since 1911. It is also the first body to broker partnerships between Buddhist communities, Northern Buddhist governments, the World Bank and other international bodies.
If just one tree were planted in the Gobi whenever a Mongolian person dies, then within one generation there would be up to 2.7 million more trees in the desert, with all the wildlife and climate support that these new woodlands would bring with them.
Joining leading Buddhists from Russia, Mongolia, China, Korea, and Cambodia were senior figures from the World Bank, Dutch Government, international environmental organizations such as WWF, and the Alliance of Religions and Conservation."
