PaRD reports on Schirrmacher’s Opening Speech of PaRD conference on “Religious Organisations Safeguard the Environment through Cooperation”
The International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development (PaRD) convenes governments, multilateral entities, civil society, especially religious and faith-based actors, and academia in a safe space providing continuity for dialogue, learning, and collaboration to better inform policy and practices in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda. PARD connects 7 governments from around the globe with 7 UN and intergovernmental organisations and 128 major global relief and development organisations from eight religions, eg beside the WEA and its WEA Sustainability Center (Bonn) also World Vision and Netzwerk M. WEA is especially involved by one of the work streams with Joan Okitoi-Heisig functioning as Co-Lead.
Schirrmacher opened the virtual conference with a short speech given from the UNEA conference in Nairobi. From the report:
Archbishop Schirrmacher, Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), joined from the UNEA in Nairobi and began the panel by describing the link between all people and all religions. The archbishop spoke of how inter-religious cooperation can be approached from different levels in different situations. In some communities, it is already at a grassroots level, while in other cases, agreements on the global level help inspire cooperation at lower levels. Schirrmacher sees the earth as a home where solutions cannot be compartmentalised. “Only fixing one room will not stop the rain from coming in through the roof at wintertime,” he said.
See the full report here.
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