Interfaith Dialogue on Climate Change, Sustainability and Resilience
International Network of Engaged Buddhists is a co-founder organization of Inter-religious Climate and Ecology Network (ICE Network). The purpose of the network is to wisely influence national public policy within Asia and to stimulate and strengthen diplomatic discussions around climate change at international level. We aim to do this in cooperation with various stakeholders, such as faith-based and civil society organizations, gender and age based groups, and business networks.
Our actions, the key strategic areas where an integrated faith-based response can organize and engage directly to mitigate impacts and integrate adaptation responses, and importantly, solution which recognize the human drivers of climate change:
Micro Level: Faith traditions continue to play a strong role in the communities across Asia. Faith leaders should collaborate across inter- and intra-faith networks to educate and raise awareness among faith leaders and communities around Climate Change.
Macro Level: At a policy level, faith leaders have an essential role in advocating values and ethics, while leveraging their position within society, to influence global negotiations and direct national and local policies for socio-economic-environmental well-being of political constituents.
Paradigm Change: From grassroots communities to local and national awareness and onto the global stage, a faith-based response has a critical role to play in advocating a paradigm change in values and orientations.
The theme of conference/debate:
Thematic Areas
Education: public awareness of climate change, biodiversity, ecology and social justice, training for clergy and lay people as change agents within their localities;
Advocacy: national training on advocacy methods, opportunities, and processes related to climate change and the environment within a framework of social justice;
Personal change and eco-ethics: religious and inter- religious actions and awareness on personal change, building awareness of actionable impacts and areas to personally bring change, and personal agency for environmental transformation founded in eco-faith values;
Religious institutional and Community change and modeling: Modeling eco-temple and ecovillage for changing the carbon footprints or environmental impacts and sharing innovations and successes in local transformations, resilience and changing how people treat each other and the Earth;
Institutionalization of the network: building organizational capacity and developing a platform to share learning and experience, collaboratively problem solve, plan collective actions and potentially advocacy work.
The objectives of conference/debate:
Collaborate ways to implement actions and advocacy in response to climate change by faith-based and civil society;
Increase awareness, cooperation and create a common ground for joint response to climate change and environmental challenges between civil societies.
Build the capacity of civil societies and faith-based organizations to respond to climate change and increase resilience;
Develop a plan of action for implementation of commitments, to incorporate ideas and commitments from the conference, to solidify individual and group responsibilities / commitments and roles.
The foreseen speakers of conference/debate:
We will bring a faith leader group from Asia to COP21; therefore they will actively participate in this conference and other prospect speakers as follows;
Education: a representative from Gaia Education*
Advocacy: a representative from We have Faith (South Africa)
Personal change and eco-ethics: a representative from: Brahma Kumaris Association*
Religious institutional and Community change and modeling: a representative from Won Buddhist (South Korea)