By A Mirsab, TwoCircles.net,
Istanbul/New Delhi: An ‘Islamic Climate Change Declaration’ has called on the world’s Muslims to play an active role in combating climate change and has urged governments to conclude an effective universal climate change agreement in Paris at the end of the year.
Quoting Quran verses and traditions of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), it has also tried to explain why climate change is the world’s most pressing challenge, why 1.6 billion Muslims across the globe have a religious duty to play their part in tackling it and how they can fulfill this duty.
Religious leaders, senior international development policy makers, academics and other experts made the call in an Islamic Declaration on Climate adopted at an International Islamic Climate Change Symposium in Istanbul on Tuesday.
In addition with Muslims of the world, it has also called upon the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Meeting of the Parties (MOP) to the Kyoto Protocol taking place in Paris this December, the well-off nations and oil-producing states, the people of all nations and their leaders, corporations, finance, the business sector and groups of all faiths to endeavor the great efforts of global climate change.
Addressing the people of all nations and their leaders, the Muslim leaders called on to phase out greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible in order to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, and to commit themselves to 100 % renewable energy and/or a zero emissions strategy as early as possible. They specifically called on richer nations and oil-producing states to lead the way in phasing out their greenhouse gas emissions as early as possible and no later than the middle of the century.
It specifically urged Muslims in different sectors – Heads of state, Political leaders, Business Community, UNFCCC delegates, Religious leaders and scholars, Mosque congregations, Islamic endowments (awqaf), Educators and educational institutions, Community leaders, Civil society activists, Non-governmental organizations, Communications and media – to contribute in preserving the climate.
This declaration is an important intervention by religious leaders and will act as a crucial rallying call ahead of the UN climate change negotiations which are to be held in Paris in December, 2015.
The Declaration will also underscore the need for urgent global action in mosques and madrassas to emphasize the role that Islam can play in creating a world free from the ravages of climate change, free from polluting fossil fuels and built on a foundation of 100% clean, safe, renewable energy.
The historic declaration ends with the saying of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), “The world is sweet and verdant, and verily Allah has made you stewards in it, and He sees how you acquit yourselves”. [Abu Sa‘īd Al-Khudrī(RA) reported in Muslim]
Welcoming the declaration, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres said: “A clean energy, sustainable future for everyone ultimately rests on a fundamental shift in the understanding of how we value the environment and each other. Islam’s teachings, which emphasize the duty of humans as stewards of the Earth and the teacher’s role as an appointed guide to correct behavior, provide guidance to take the right action on climate change”.
There has been surge in the religious calls for protecting climate and to support Paris meet. Many faiths and denominations have this year called governments to take action at the Paris climate meeting, along with pledging climate action themselves.
Earlier on June 18 this year, as part of the papal Encyclical ‘Laudato Si’, Pope Francis laid out the argument for a new partnership between science and religion to combat human driven climate change.
Read complete declaration by International Islamic Climate Change Symposium here.
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