ABOUT
WWF'S BELIEFS & VALUES PROGRAMME
The Faith & Nature Hub is supported by WWF’s Beliefs & Values Programme (BVP), whose mission is to bring together faith and conservation partners globally to protect and restore biodiversity.
The BVP supports on-the-ground projects as well as faith advocacy for a greener world. Through this work we engage with communities based on their spiritual, religious and cultural beliefs and value systems. We use the term ‘faith’ to encompass both mainstream religions as well as Indigenous spiritual belief systems.
Through the Faith & Nature Hub, we aim to support global learning on faith and conservation, sharing experiences of faith groups and conservation actors, and raise awareness about the value of faith projects and partnerships within the wider conservation world.
1986: HRH Prince Philip in Assisi, Italy, at the first meeting
between leading faith groups and conservationists
OUR HISTORY
In 1986, a groundbreaking meeting was held in Assisi, Italy, as part of WWF’s 25th anniversary, on the suggestion of then President of WWF International, HRH Prince Philip. It was this extraordinary first-ever meeting between the major faith groups and conservation organisations that prompted the faiths to consider the environment as a religious issue – in many cases for the first time.​
Following that meeting, WWF launched the Network on Conservation and Religions (1986 to 1995) led by Martin Palmer. In 1995 the network evolved into its own organisation, the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), in part supported by WWF.
WWF’s Beliefs & Values Programme was created out of ARC’s legacy, after it closed in 2019.
‘Human responsibility for the environment has long been recognised by the many religious cultures, and some of them have imbued certain natural features, such as forests, rivers and mountains, with a special sacred significance.'
HRH Prince Philip, who first invited the major religions to meet conservationists to see how they could work together to protect the living planet.