Alliance of Religions and Conservation

Helping 11 of the world’s major faiths develop environmental plans

to protect the living planet

About ARC

• Founded in 1995 by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh as a secular NGO

• We help faiths develop environmental programmes based on their own core beliefs, practices and teachings.

• We also help secular organisations link with religions to work together.

• We are not funded by any faith.

Long-term African Faith Commitments for a Living Planet

Sept 2012, Nairobi – 27 Christian, Muslim and Hindu groups launched long-term environmental action plans.

27 faith groups reaching out to 184 million people in 11 countries in sub-Saharan Africa

– Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

What people have said about this initiative...

‘A new awakening that will help shape the beliefs, behaviour

and actions for a greener and better Africa’

– Dr Ali Mohamed, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources, Kenya

‘Potentially transformative’ – Mr Mounkaila Goumandakoya, UNEP Director and

Regional Representative for Africa

• The plans focus on sustainable land and water management –especially – farming,– education,– women’s-led

projects– tree planting– Awareness

raising on environmental issues

Restoring the land

Climate-smart

agriculture

• Farming God’s Way• Islamic Farming

Agro-forestryand tree nurseries

• Tree planting for fruit, fodder, fertiliser & fuelwood

• Community woodlots & tree nurseries

Practical action for

SLM

• Water harvesting• Energy-saving stoves• Charcoal briquettes• Biogas & solar energy

Faithful Farming• Faith-based approach to agriculture• Integrates faith teachings about caring for the Earth

with practical training in conservation agriculture– Farming God’s Way for Christian farmers – Islamic Farming for Muslim farmers

Conservation agriculture principles• Form of climate-

smart agriculture• Doubles crop yields

in 5 years• Has three key

principles:– No tillage or

minimum tillage– Mulching:

ie, covering the soil

– Crop rotation

Farming God’s Way training, Kenya• 110 Christian faith leaders trained in Kenya & Uganda• Demonstration gardens on faith-managed land

Farming God’s Way in Kenya

• Demonstration sites established on faith-run land

• The Methodist Church has revived its Agriculture Week

• Presbyterian Church of East Africa has trained at least 300 people

• The Anglican Church is reaching out to 500 households through farmer field schools

Farming God’s Way garden at the Catholic Youth Centre

Preparing the garden

Healthy crops growing

Farming God’s Way in

Uganda

• Bunyoro Kitara Diocese

• Preparing one of the gardens (above)

• Healthy maize growing (right)

Islamic Farming

• The first training manual that integrates Islamic teachings on caring for the Earth with practical training in conservation agriculture

• Produced by ARC & Global One 2015 in response to requests from Muslim faith partners

Islamic Farming

• Launched in March 2014 in Kenya in partnership with SUPKEM (Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims)

Islamic Farming workshop, Kenya• 30 members of SUPKEM trained in January 2014

• Another 200 farmers trained by SUPKEM by March 2014

• 11 demo farms established across Kenya

Practical demonstration of how mulched soil absorbs water much better than bare soil

Islamic Farming in Uganda

Islamic Farming workshop, Uganda, August 2014

• 14 Islamic Farming demonstration farms established by UMYA/HEAR Uganda, UMWA and Gomba Women’s Environment Group

• 84 smaller Islamic Farming gardens at individual’s homes

Engaging women

Women’s initiatives

Women-led tree nurseries

• 10 women-led tree nurseries set up by the Northern Diocese, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania

• Watering & planting techniques

• Microfinance • Entrepreneurship • Nursery management• Agroforestry

Women-led tree nurseries in Uganda

• Bunyoro-Kitara Diocese in Uganda

• Working with the Mothers’ Union

• Setting up 15 tree nurseries in the next 2 years

• Training in agroforestry and climate change

• Income generating

Engaging Muslim women

Gomba Women’s Environment Project

• Women in mosques in Gomba District, Uganda

• Aims to reduce the number of trees cut down for firewood

• Planting 10,000-12,000 new trees a year

• Develop income-generating, environmentally friendly livelihoods

Complementary new skills

• Drip irrigation

• Rainwater harvesting• Water reservoirs

Charcoal briquettes

Basket cookers

Biogas– Building the biogas unit (top left)– Cookers and lights powered by biogas (bottom left)

Tree planting

• Ghana – community woodlots

• Ethiopia – green mosques

Faith groups are involved in up to 70% of schools in Africa

Awareness raising in schools

Faith-based Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit launched in Kenya, 2013

Faith-based ESD toolkit launched in Tanzania, September 2013

Faith-based ESD toolkit taken to Uganda, March 2014

School micro projects:

– Vegetable gardens– Water & sanitation – Tree planting– Waste management– Bee keeping

Awareness raising in faith communities

Catholics in Kenya• Resources for catechists and

for Sunday schools• Interfaith environmental

awareness day

Greening Fridays in Uganda

• Launched in 2010, held every Second Friday of Ramadan • The sermon that day focuses on the environment• Afterwards tree seedlings are distributed to worshippers

Greening Friday 2014

Development of national faith networks of environmental action

Launch of the Uganda network

• Uganda Faiths Network on Environmental Action (UFNEA) launched in October 2013

Kenya Interfaith Network on Environmental Action

Network of Faiths on Environmental Action in Tanzania

A new movement of faith groups engaged in environmental action