WELCOME TO THE
FAITH & NATURE HUB
A PORTAL TO SUPPORT YOUR FAITH AND CONSERVATION
PROJECTS AND COLLABORATIONS
The Faith and Nature Hub is a learning platform curated by WWF to share the collaborative work of conservationists and faith communities around the world. The FNH offers guidance, resources, inspiration and connection, to facilitate your faith and conservation collaborations.
Please note: some pages on this website are still in development.
As conservationists, we work in some of the most religious parts of the world.
WHY DO WE NEED THIS?
All of society must be engaged if we are to stop the destruction of nature and restore balance to the Earth. Most of the global population, especially in the most biodiverse countries, affiliates with a religious or spiritual tradition, and every faith tradition has teachings that speak to care for nature.
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Yet to date, faiths have been a greatly under-represented stakeholder group in conservation, often overlooked in the creation of partnerships that can bring us closer to the communities we work with.
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Hundreds of faith-based organisations globally are already active on key issues like climate change, renewable energy, illegal wildlife trade and reforestation – from Christian action in the Amazon, to Islamic fatwas on wildlife trade and water conservation in Indonesia, and from Buddhist monks patrolling forests in Southeast Asia to Sikhs planting forests in India, and many more such examples.
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The conservation sector is increasingly engaging with faith communities, providing them with technical and scientific support, and integrating their unique worldviews and relationships with nature into conservation strategies and projects.
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The Faith & Nature Hub builds on the great conservation initiatives being carried out in the faith community, to inspire and support your faith and conservation collaborations for the benefit of People, Nature and Climate.
'We need a dialogue between religion and science, the two most powerful forces in the world'
– EO Wilson, biologist, naturalist, and writer
WHY WORK WITH FAITHS?
Conservationists operate in some of the most religious parts of the world
Faith leaders around the globe are calling on their vast communities to take action. Hundreds of religious and spiritual groups are channelling their vast membership, assets and influence to protect our environment.
Increasingly, conservationists and faith communities worldwide are collaborating to pioneer programmes that bring together spirituality and science in ways that protect biodiversity and restore our natural world.
84%
Around 84% of the world’s population identifies with a major religion or faith tradition, according to the Pew Research Center. This is projected to increase over coming decades.
Figure from the Pew Research Center's 2017 report.
50%
Half of the world’s schools are affiliated to and/or managed by a major religion or faith tradition, according to a 2012 UNICEF report. In some countries the percentage is higher.
Figure from UNICEF's 2012 report, Partnering with Religious Communities for Children, page 37
7-8%
Faiths manage 7-8% of the world's habitable land, including 5% of commercial forests. They have influence over another 15% of land and forests considered sacred.
7-8%: Palmer, Finlay, Faith in Conservation, published by The World Bank, 2003, pg11. 5%: Faiths for Forests campaign, UN Environment Programme, September 20, 2019. 15%: Research by Oxford University’s former Biodiversity Institute (2007-2015)
FIND OUT MORE
The case for working with religious groups
FEATURED RESOURCES
Discover how to work with faith groups to take action in nature conservation
