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WATER
CONSERVATION

OVERVIEW

For faith communities around the world, religious and spiritual practices

Forests store more carbon than all the Earth’s exploitable oil, gas and coal... Yet every year we lose roughly 10 million hectares of forests – an area about the size of Portugal. 
WWF Living Planet Report 2022, pg 22

Ten more years to restore the planet

THE UN DECADE ON ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION

There has never been a more urgent need to revive damaged ecosystems than now.

Ecosystems support all life on Earth. The healthier our ecosystems are, the healthier the planet – and its people. To meet the SDGs and to halt and reverse the environmental crisis, our planet’s critical ecosystems must be restored.

In June 2021 the UN launched the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration to highlight this urgency. The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration aims to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean. It can help to end poverty, combat climate change and prevent a mass extinction. It will only succeed if everyone plays a part. 

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Read more about the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and click below to watch UNEP's short film about why it is so important to heal the planet.

FAITH-BASED TREE GROWING

Implementing tree growing initiatives

WWF, Trillion Trees and UNEP's Faith for Earth Initiative have created a guide on tree growing for faith actors, entitled Tree Growing for Conservation and Ecosystem Restoration

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The faith tree growing guide was launched at the CBD COP15 in December 2023, and offers a simple step-by-step approach to assist faith actors in developing and implementing tree growing initiatives. These guidelines are designed to support faith actors around the world who are mobilising their communities and their significant resources, infrastructure and lands to plant and grow thousands of trees. 

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Tree Growing for Conservation and Ecosys
'The Christian faith is a source of strong motivation to care for Mother Earth, and tree growing is central to this goal. This Guidebook comes at the right time to support faiths across the world engage in tree growing in ways that complement the global agenda of ecosystem restoration.'
– The Rt. Rev. Joseph Obanyi Sagwe, Bishop of Kakamega Diocese, Kenya

Find out more about faith-based tree growing initiatives in the webinar on tree growing, below right, which featured Dr Iyad Abumoghli, Director of UNEP's Faith for Earth Programme; Chantal Elkin, head of WWF’s Belief and Values Programme; Laura D’Arcy, Head of the Trillion Trees Programme; Supreet Kaur, President (India) of Ecosikh; Rev Dr Rachel Mash, Secretary of the Anglican Communion Environmental Network, South Africa; and Tom Barasa Wafula, Leader of the Kenya Faith Tree-Growing Project.

 

You can also read an article on the webinar.

Learn more

WHY DO FAITH GROUPS PLANT TREES?

Faith-based organisations plant trees for many reasons: to commemorate auspicious days, as a way to bring their community together and connect with others, to create a sacred forest, to strengthen food security, to green and beautify city spaces, for fuel, and to help reduce biodiversity loss and mitigate climate change.

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Faith-based organisations and actors are uniquely placed to undertake meaningful and sustainable tree growing initiatives across a variety of landscapes, carrying with them huge potential to use their existing infrastructure, networks, human capacity and dedication to successfully contribute to forest restoration.

 

This movement stems from religious beliefs and values that speak to caring for the Earth, recognising the intrinsic value of nature and our need for a balanced relationship with the ecosystems that sustain us.

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Farming in harmony with nature to support restoration

FAITH-BASED AGRICULTURE

The restoration of farmlands is a key piece in the mosaic of restoration initiatives in many landscapes. Most farmers in priority biodiversity landscapes are people of strong faith. More and more of these communities are using sustainable agricultural methods driven by their spiritual beliefs and values about caring for the planet, but also in line with agroecology principles that support biodiversity, climate and human wellbeing.

Learn more about faith, food and farming

Learn more

HIGHLIGHTED RESOURCES

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World Resources Institute

From Ethiopia’s highlands to India’s villages

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KAICIID Dialogue Centre

Biodiversity e-learning course for faith actors 

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GreenFaith, A Rocha International, World Vision

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UNCCD, UNEP, COP28

A SWOT analysis study of FBOs in Uganda

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URI, Center for Earth Ethics

Spotlighting restoration projects globally

Green and Yellow
Mountains

Find partners

Groups working on faith & restoration

Please contact us if you are working on faith & restoration and would like your organisation to be listed here.

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Key guidance documents

Interested in getting a collaboration or a project going with a faith community but not sure where to start? Check out these key guidance documents.

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