Meeting in Bristol of major religions re. "Agenda 2030":

[arthra]

I was intrigued by a recent news item from Bristol UK and apparently it is not widely covered in the media...

The Baha'i International Community (BIC) and representatives of 23 other major religious traditions have offered to the United Nations (UN) ideas and action plans in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—called Agenda 2030, the UN's primary development agenda for the next 15 years.

So this comes under the theme of this thread that the representatives of major religions are making a contribution in attempting to resolve issues related to climate change...

For more information see:

http://news.bahai.org/story/1067

 

[wil]

Is there someplace that lists the religions represented? I mean did they send high ranking representatives? Or are they saying if a Baptist congregant attended they are indicating that he is representing all Baptists?

 

[arthra]

There is an article from the United Nations Development Programme
that tells more about the Bristol meeting here.. and I quote:

Bristol, UK—Faith leaders from around the world and senior United Nations officials will gather in Bristol next week to discuss how to work together to implement the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), aimed at lifting people out of poverty and creating a sustainable planet.

The UN Bristol meeting, entitled: Faith in the Future, takes place on September 8-9, 2015, and is co-hosted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), which is based in Bath.

The aim is to discuss how faith groups can support the SDGs, which will set the direction of development work worldwide for the next 15 years. The 17 goals will be adopted by the UN Member States during the Sustainable Development Summit on September 25 in New York and replace the Millennium Development Goals which expire at the end of 2015.

Read more at

http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en...ve-lives-of-millions-of-people-worldwide.html

The faith leaders, who represent 24 belief traditions from around the world and belong to Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, Daoism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism and Shintoism, also declared they would do all they could to support the new SDGs.

and read more about ARC at

http://www.arcworld.org/news.asp?pageID=783

 

[arthra]

A brief snippet from the statementnbof the Baha'i representation that attended the Conference reads:

To harness the constructive potential of multitudes around the world, the notion that access to financial resources is required to make meaningful contributions to society must be challenged. Material wealth is often equated with capacity in development thought and discourse. Yet financial capacity is not synonymous with the human capacity needed to advance constructive social transformation. Those with limited material means far outnumber those living in abundance, and no longer can it be realistically imagined that a small segment of humanity should decide for the rest and aim, on its own, to bring about their advancement. At this point in the development of the global community, such a proposition is neither feasible, nor desirable.

Read more at:

https://www.bic.org/sites/default/files/bahai_contribution_to_bristol_conference_web.pdf

 

[wil]

Still.a.little confused...what I am reading appears that the various groups are have been working on various individual projects...their own initiatives and are combining these under an sdg that fits their mission... I didn't read about s lot if cross pollination or expansion of projects ie 'that's great we'll help fund that with x million or yes we'll start one of those in our country too...

 

[arthra]

Keep exploring Wil .. For me it's interesting and I am more optimistic that so many of these religions are represented and working for common goals...

More from the ARC site:

ARC works with 12 faiths world wide. These faiths and their networks embrace 85% of the world's population: some 5 billion human beings.

Drawing on their traditions, faith communities are working in countless ways to care for the environment. Each faith has its own distinctive history and teachings, and its own unique relationship with the natural world.

This section outlines the basics of each faith's history, beliefs and teachings on ecology. At the end of each faith section are links for further information.

Around the world religious organisations have immense influence socially, educationally, politically and culturally both at national and local levels. This influence, combined with their spiritual insight and commitment makes them one of the most powerful agents for social change in civil society. For more on this aspect of working with religious organisations link here.

http://www.arcworld.org/arc_and_the_faiths.asp