Buddhism and Ecology News

Friday, 14 July 2006
Photo: Jeroen van Amelsvoort

Mongolia Web News reports:

Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, is visiting Mongolia to join president Nambar Enkhbayar in the celebrations of the 800 years statehood of Mongolia. On Tuesday July 11th, he attented a special version of the national festival of Naadam. In the afternoon he paid a visit to a project to increase capacity in the Mongolian felt and cashmere industry let by designer Alan Flux.
Afterwards the Duke of York visited Gandan monastery where he was received by the abbot, His Emminence Venerable Khamba Lama. He was introduced to an eco-ger that has been set-up to promote
environmental awareness through and with the Buddhist community as part of a programme of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation - a UK based NGO founded by Prince Philip.

The World Bank has published a report on their work on working with religious communities on environmental programmes (pdf file - 6mb):

All of the World’s major faiths can argue for better environmental management.
The past record of explicit care for the environment by faith communities can
hardly be said to have been exemplary, but over the last 20 years all of these
faiths have reexamined their teachings and beliefs in the light of the various
global environmental crises. All of them have found that they should be more active
in caring for the environment, not just because this would be a good thing to do, but
because it is a natural expression of their faith. The faiths are thus natural allies of the
environmental movement.
We increasingly recognize the role of civil society as a key network for environment and
development programs. However—and with some notable exceptions—the potential
of faith communities and faith-based organizations has not been fully explored. Yet in
almost every country in the world, the faiths have a wider network on the ground than
any other element of civil society. They also have centuries of experience, and in many
places provide a substantial part of the educational, medical, and welfare structures and
personnel in the country. They also often have larger followings than many political
parties, across much wider social ranges. The faiths actually are the oldest, largest, most
respected, and deepest-penetrating NGOs. They share with us an agenda of promoting
wise environmental management, even if this has been somewhat lost during parts of
their history.